A Bouquet of Petunias
by GenericAsianAtYourService
Summary: A new enemy has risen, bent on destroying the Vongola. Two girls, full of secrets and wretched pasts, are sent to Japan to secretly protect Tsuna. But from these circumstances, can love arise? OC's. Co-written with Kiyomizu Yukiko. Multiple pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Hey people. This is a fanfiction that I'm co-writing with Kiyomizu Yukiko. She's currently working on another story on her account so be sure to check it out.**

**We don't own anything accept our OC's and the plot.**

**So…without further ado, our story starts…**

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><p>The girl breathed heavily, sweat dripping down her forehead as she crouched down in the underbrush. She swept her red-brown hair away from her face as she waited for her target to approach. She held a kunai, firmly in her right hand, ready to pounce and kill at any moment.<p>

_There! _A flash of a blue flame was visible between the openings of the bush and she leapt out like a cat. Grabbing her target by his shoulder, she set the cold blade against his throat.

"Move and your throat gets slit," the girl growled.

A smirk crept up his face. "Not this time, Victoria."

Victoria turned around and her garnet eyes widened in surprise. A large man stood about two meters behind her and lifted his arm, which held a gun, towards her.

"Crap!" she shouted but her demeanor quickly changed. "Just kidding~!" A Cheshire cat grin spread across her face. "Now, Tammie!"

In realization of what was going to happen, horror spread across the face of the gunner and the boy she was holding. A sweet melody drifted across the forest.

"It's your loss, Basil, Tumeric." Victoria gave the two guys a smirk.

Soon a fury of red wind-like blades surrounded them. These were storm attribute wind flames that were controlled by the sound of a woodwind instrument. The melody grew faster and louder as the winds spiraled around them cutting Basil and Tumeric. Yet the wind seemed to shift around Victoria, not leaving a single cut on her. From the distance an amethyst eyed girl stood on a branch of a tree, gently holding a piccolo against her lip as her light blue hair billowed around her by the strong wind.

*TWEEEET* The sound of a whistle was heard and the blade like winds disappeared immediately. A man wearing an orange construction suit jumped down from a tree and walked toward them, soon joined by the other girl. It was Sawada Iemitsu, Tsuna's dad and Tammie Zhang, Victoria Park's partner in crime. Tammie twirled her piccolo around in her fingers as she high fived Victoria.

"Good job, Tammie," Victoria said, helping Basil to his feet.

Tammie grinned. "Of course! It was a great strategy, a trap inside of a trap. As expected of you Vicky~! They fell for it perfectly."

Basil sputtered while holding his bleeding arm. "A plan? That whole thing was a set up?"

"Of course!" Tammie answered.

"But we found Victoria by her harsh breathing!" Basil said defiantly.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Intentional obviously, as if I would get caught by something like that."

Iemitsu laughed heartily. "Yeah, but it was a great risk you were taking, Victoria. If Tammie hadn't controlled the attack so well you would have been cut up too!"

"Of course I wouldn't! I can control it perfectly now!" Tammie scoffed.

Victoria smiled. "Yep, it was perfectly safe. Besides, Tammie didn't even have any killing intent, if she did, these guys would have been cut and served as sushi."

Tumeric shook his head in disbelief. _If Tammie could pull off such a powerful attack like that with no killing intent I would hate to see her angry._

Oregano came running up to them holding a first aid kit and started tending to the two guys. Lal Mirch followed behind her and smacked Basil and Turmeric on the head.

"You guys can't even beat two fifteen year old girls and you call yourself men?!" She fumed as she shouted at them.

Vicky and Tammie snickered, watching the two 'men' get lectured, well more like beat up, by Lal. They were about to walk away to the CEDEF base that was stationed in America before Iemitsu stopped them.

"Hey, I need to talk to you two," he said.

"Sure~" Tammie chirped as she skipped up to him.

Victoria narrowed her eyes as she walked over. "Something's up, huh."

Iemitsu nodded. "Our negotiation with the American Mafia family, Eramo Family, didn't turn out so well."

"Really? That sucks, you guys came all the way over to the U.S., built a CEDEF base in a heavily forested area, just to have it blown over? Do you need us to go beat some people up?" Tammie offered.

"In a way… I'm sending you two to Japan to secretly protect my son. The private jet will arrive tomorrow morning so you guys should go pack—"

He was interrupted by Victoria racing through the trees, running to the entrance to the CEDEF base.

"...That was fast," he commented.

Tammie sighed. "Well, that's the Japan fanatic for you. Why does your son need protecting? Isn't he supposed to be able to protect himself?"

"There have been some… complications." Iemitsu rubbed his stubble while in thought.

Tammie jogged toward the base and entered, heading towards the room she shared with Victoria. Victoria had finished packing and was sitting on her bed, swinging her feet.

"Excited, huh," Tammie said dryly as she took out her suitcase, filling it with clothes.

Victoria's glimmer in her eye was enough of an answer for her. She cheerfully lay down on her bed while waiting for Tammie to hurry up and pack. _Japan and beating the shit out of people, two of my favorite things. This is going to be fun._

"I bet you were too preoccupied by the fact you were going to your beloved Japan and didn't hear Iemitsu say we had to secretly protect his son."

The grin got wiped off instantly. "The one that looks like he'd be the perfect uke for all of the yaoi parings in the world?"

Tammie groaned. "You and your Japanese references. Yes, Tsuna. The one Iemitsu showed us a picture of…what other son would there be? And besides, it's not right to judge a book by its cover."

Victoria shrugged as she turned onto her stomach. _Protecting…not exactly the top of my list of favorite things to do. Torturing? Yes. Touring Japan? Yes. But protecting? No. Maybe this wouldn't be that fun._

Tammie zipped up her suitcase and Victoria rolled off the bed, landing on the floor with a 'thunk'.

Tammie stared at Victoria who was grimacing in pain. "Didn't that hurt?"

"Nah, I have enough fat on me to protect myself."

"What fat, you're like a stick."

"I don't want to hear that from a tall stick."

"Then get off your beloved computer and actually sleep at night. Then, _maybe_, just_ maybe_ you'll grow, dumbass."

"Ouch, now _that_ hurt."

"Whatever. Now hurry up and change, you have blood all over your clothes. It's disturbing."

Victoria stuck her tongue out. "No, I like it."

Tammie looked at her as if she was crazy. "Well, I am talking to a sadist here."

"I was being sarcastic," she said, smacking Tammie upside the head. Victoria went back to her suitcase to get her pajamas for the night.

"Ouch…" Tammie said, rubbing her head. "You're becoming like Lal."

"Shut up," She said while reopening and sorting through her suitcase, "I don't think we are going to get any sleep tonight…"

"You mean, _you_ won't be getting any sleep tonight," Tammie retorted.

"Yeah, yeah. G' night." And Victoria was out when her head hit the pillow. Tammie chuckled and sat there staring at the ceiling. _I wonder if the people in Japan will be nice… I hope my Japanese is good enough…_ And she, too, was out like a light.

The next morning, Victoria rolled out of bed and pulled out some things from her suitcase. She quickly changed into a black tank top, jean shorts, and a military styled sleeveless jacket. After sliding on some wristbands, necklaces, and a hat that said EVIL, she picked up her suitcase.

Tammie followed her example and the two girls were ready to leave. Victoria suddenly turned around, facing Tammie, and shook her head.

"What?" Tammie asked.

"I can't believe the style of your clothes," Victoria said, shaking her head.

"Says the one that dresses like some street gangster."

"I do not."

"Hmph." Tammie looked down at herself. She was wearing a strapless corset-like top that was cut off short to reveal a strip of her stomach. She also wore jean shorts, striped knee high socks, and fingerless gloves. She had a lace black headband on, which pushed some of her hair back.

"Well…it is kind of a gothic Lolita style…" she murmured.

Victoria laughed and walked out, heading downstairs. At the entrance she pulled on her combat boots while Tammie laced up her black Converse.

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><p><strong>And cut. So some of you might be confused about the "uke" reference. No, it's not a ukulele.<strong>

"**The true definition of 'Uke' is actually 'Receiver' which is related to something called 'Seme' which is 'attacker'. Both Uke and Seme are involved in homosexual relationships, Mainly in Yaoi and Yuri. Seme is the dominate one (the one on top) and uke is the one on the bottom.**"

How…awkward.

**  
>Anyways, if you guys have any questions please ask in the reviews or PM one of us! Once again our accounts are, Kiyomizu Yukiko and GenericAznAtYourService<strong>

**Reviews are appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**R&R please~!**

**We don't own anything besides the OC's and the plot.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

After saying some last minute goodbye's to the other CEDEF members, Tammie and Victoria were off to the private airport accompanied by Basil and Iemitsu.

Tammie and Basil walked along quietly at a considerable distance away from each other. Both of them in deep thought. They finally arrived at the sleek, black jet and Basil turned to Tammie to say goodbye.

Basil walked up closer to Tammie. "So I guess this is farewell?"

"Aw, don't be so dramatic. We'll meet again anyways. It's not like I'm walking off into a battlefield… Wait, scratch that; it'll turn into a battlefield knowing Vicky. Anyways, bye Basil! I'll definitely miss you." Tammie gave him a fierce hug, before turning away to walk toward Vicky who was waiting for her at the entrance of the private jet.

Basil blushed and looked after her. "Ah, wait Tammie!"

She turned around. "Yeah, what?"

"Um… well…" He gulped, mustering his courage. "I—"

Whatever he was trying to say was cut off by Victoria's yells. "Hey! Hurry up Tammie!"

"Kay!" She turned back around. "Sorry Basil, Vicky's getting impatient, bye! Text me or something~!"

Tammie ran off toward Victoria and noticed the serious expression on her face. Vicky was staring at Basil, almost glaring at him. She raised her arms and crossed them to form an 'X'.

Tammie stared at her weirdly. "What's that for?"

"Nothing," she said innocently and walked into the jet. One of the flight attendants took their huge suitcases and put them in the storage.

"Hold on!" Iemitsu called, running up to them. He handed them a file of papers. "Read these, it's information on Tsuna, his guardians, and some other useful information. I'll contact you once you get to Japan."

"Okay~!" Tammie chirped and she also went inside, closing the door behind her.

Victoria frowned, slightly skeptical about his remark. _Contact us? Iemitsu's not really...with the times. I hope his definition of 'contact' isn't anything ancient._

Shortly afterward, the jet lifted leaving the members of the CEDEF staring into the open sky.

Basil sighed, fully understanding what Victoria had meant by her little 'x' symbol. "I don't get her approval huh? That might be a slight problem."

The CEDEF walked off, heading back into their base.

**On the Jet**

"Look, Vicky! They have a refrigerator, a TV and so much leg room! Looks like we are the only passengers on this plane~!" Tammie jumped up and down with anticipation.

"Because this is a private jet, you derp." Victoria rolled her eyes. "Oh, look! A speaker plug-in for my iPod! I call playing my J-Rock on there!"

She went over to the stereo and plugged in her iPod. The stereo started blasting out "Listen to the Stereo" by Going Underground. The two girls walked over to the two couch-like seats, dropping their carry-on bags on the floor. Tammie settled into one of the couches and Victoria took the other one.

"Wow, this is the first time I've ever been in a plane, much less a jet…" Tammie sighed in content. "This flight is going to be long… since we are leaving now, 11 a.m., then we are going to arrive in Japan at 11 p.m. Looks like we are in for a long ride."

"I know right. As much as I'd like to enjoy this twelve hour plane ride… we still have to read the files that Iemitsu-san gave us." Victoria dryly looked through a file. "Yamamoto Takeshi, flame type: rain, height: 177 cm…" She tossed it aside. "Do we really need to read this?"

Tammie picked up a folder and leafed through its contents. In the folder, there were several pages on all the guardians'. Each had a condensed summary about them including a picture and a generalization of their special attacks.

Tammie tossed the folder on top of Victoria's. "Nah, we'll meet them anyways." _I bet she's just pissed off that he's so tall. _She giggled to herself.

And so the folders sat abandoned throughout the rest of the trip.

**A Few Hours Later**

"Ugh, Tammie, stop playing that otome game. The music is getting really annoying," Victoria complained as she tried to focus on her manga.

Tammie ignored Victoria. "NOOOO! Crap cakes, this isn't the guy I wanted!"

Victoria groaned and tried to drown out Tammie's cries with her iPod. Tammie threw her Nintendo DS on the ground in frustration.

"Oh, whatever. I'm just going to give up." Tammie pouted. "You know… We've come a long way, haven't we?"

Victoria thought for a minute. "Yes we have."

The two girls fell into a comfortable silence, reminiscing their past.

**Flashback (Cactuar: Ooh ooh a flashback!)**

"Ugh, damn it! I hate those parents of mine. They have the nerve to close the credit card account?" an eleven year old Victoria yelled, pulling her hair in frustration. Tammie gently pried Victoria's hands out of her long jet-black hair and tried to calm her down with futile attempts.

Victoria ignored Tammie and punched a near-by wall, slightly cracking it. "Not only that! They know that you're an orphan but refused to take you in! Are they heartless?"

"It's been two months since… you know… just get over it."

"They've known you since preschool! All they ever care about is money! They don't even care about me! Their own biological daughter! Agh!" Vicky repeatedly punched the wall, her hands bled from the rough surface. Tammie quickly locked Victoria's hands behind her back without hurting her. Victoria struggled around in confusion and rage.

"Vicky, stop hurting yourself," Tammie warned. "Don't make me push your pressure points."

Victoria knew that it would be better to stop. She had been through one of Tammie's pressure point attacks. Tammie would hit all the points to either paralyze you or put you through unstoppable pain. Of course this only happened because Victoria succumbed to being Tammie's lab rat.

Victoria stopped her struggling and unclenched her fists. "Yeah, you're right. I should be over this by now. But you're my only family now so I have to do everything to protect you." _Even if it costs me my life_.

"Aw… Vicky… Stop saying such depressing things…"

However both girls knew that what they said was true. Both of their families had abandoned them in times of need, they could only rely on each other.

A sound of someone clapping was heard. The two sisters whipped around quickly and bent down in a defensive position, one protecting the other. There stood a man with blonde hair wearing a conspicuous, orange construction suit.

"Wow, for a couple of runaways, you guys know how to fight to defend yourselves," the mysterious stranger commented.

The two girls glared at him suspiciously.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want from us?" Victoria spat. "If it's money, we got none."

"Sorry for not introducing myself." The man bowed. "Hello, I'm Sawada Iemitsu. Pleased to meet you Tammie Zhang, Victoria Park."

"Wait, you're Japanese?" Victoria's eyes shone with excitement. But it soon disappeared as quickly as it came. "And how the hell do you know our names?" Her stance grew more protective of Tammie who was behind her, shaking with fear.

Iemitsu chuckled with amusement. "Bi-polar much? Anyways, I am the boss of the CEDEF—"

"The what…?"

"The Consulenza Esterna Della Famiglia, which is Italian for External Advisors of the Family—"

"Isn't that CEDF?" Victoria scoffed, straightening up from her defensive crouch. "You can speak English, Japanese, _and_ Italian?"

"Yes, yes I can. Anyways, we needed members of the CEDEF from America so I was looking through files of the young residents who live here and found out that the two of you have run away from home. It seemed like you guys were the perfect fit because you guys are black belts in your native martial arts and show a lot of promise for our…_mafia_ style of fighting.—" Iemitsu paused. "—So are you two up for it?"

The young Tammie spoke up, "Will we get a place to live and food to eat?"

Iemitsu chucked. "Of course, young one."

"Vicky, what do you think?" Tammie turned, murmuring in a soft voice. "I think this is more that we can ever wish for. We can train our fighting skills, get a place to stay, and food to eat. We can also meet new people~!" Her eyes shown with excitement.

Victoria thought for a bit. _This is kind of suspicious...Well, we can always escape._ "Ifyou're fine with it, so am I."

Tammie bowed and thanked Iemitsu. She gave Victoria a huge hug.

"Ok, then! Off we go! To the CEDEF base!" Iemitsu pumped his fist and the threesome made their way into the forest where the CEDEF base was carefully hidden.

**End Flashback**

"…cky… Vicky!" Tammie shook Victoria's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

Vicky groaned. "How many more hours do we have left until the plane lands?"

Tammie checked her watch. "Um… about one hour left. And then it's going to be 11' o clock. While we slept, we missed lunch and dinner. Do you want to eat now or later?"

Victoria's stomach growled causing the two girls to laugh. "I take that as now."

The flight attendant came over and served them dinner. "Itadakimasu~!" The two girls silently ate their meal.

After they finished eating their dinner, the intercom crackled and the captain of the jet made an announcement. "Hello, this is your captain speaking. We have begun our descent to Namimori, where the weather is currently cool and comfortable, and we will be arriving at the private gate in about twenty minutes. We'd like the flight attendants to prepare the cabin for arrival, and all of the crew members aboard this plane want to thank you for flying with us today with the Vongola Private Airlines."

"AHHHHH, WE ARE ALMOST IN JAPAN!" Victoria cheered while Tammie covered her ears.

"Yeah… I wonder where we are meeting Reborn-san when he picks us up. Iemitsu forgot to tell us."

"Crap. Oh well~! Let's just hope for the best~!" Tammie face palmed at this and began to wonder how bi-polar a person could get.

The jet finally landed in the Vongola Private Airport and the two girls stepped out.

**At Tsuna's House**

_Damn it. Iemitsu is so stupid. He sends two American girls to Japan to "protect" Tsuna. What if they are another two people like Dame-Tsuna? Tsuna is hard enough to manage; I don't need more stupid people. _Reborn paced the floor in Tsuna's room.

"Reborn! What's wrong?" Tsuna interrupted the baby's train of thought.

Reborn sent a flying kick toward Tsuna's head. "Nothing. Now do your math homework. It's late and due tomorrow. Anyways, I'm going out of the house tonight."

Tsuna rubbed his head trying to rid the pain. "Why are you going out so late? It's already 10:45."

Another kick to the head. "None of your business." And with that, Reborn jumped out the window and headed towards the designated place.

**Back at the Airport**

**(From this point, the bolded dialogue means the person is speaking English.)**

After getting off the plane, the twosome left the private airport and walked onto the busy streets.

"**Do you see Reborn-san yet?**" Tammie stood on her tip-toes trying to peer over the crowd.

"**No… I don't think that he's in this crowd.**"

A nearby public telephone suddenly rang. Tammie rushed over and picked up the phone. The number pad slid open and Reborn jumped out dressed as a mini telephone. "Are you two Fujisaki Yamiko, Fujisaki Fuyuko?"

Victoria replied back in Japanese, "No… why the hell do—"

Tammie nudged Victoria sharply in the ribs. "**Vicky! That's Reborn-san, the greatest hitman in the world!**"

"**Oh, shit**—" Victoria and Tammie simultaneously bowed down to Reborn in respect "—Sorry, Reborn, I didn't recognize you."

Reborn acknowledged them and fingered his sideburns, "Iemitsu didn't tell you ?"

The girls shook their head in confusion so Reborn continued, "Here are the files that you guys need to read and follow—" He handed them two files and a slip of paper that had an address written on it. "—inside are your new passports and stuff. This is the location of you house; all of your school stuff should be in there already. The Vongola Headquarters made sure the each of the rooms in the house is matched your style so you guys should be satisfied."

"Thank you, Reborn-san." Tammie bowed.

"Wait… which one of us is Yamiko and who is Fuyuko?" Victoria scrutinized the folders.

"Fujisaki Fuyuko—" He looked at Victoria and then faced Tammie "—Fujisaki Yamiko, I expect you two to be at school tomorrow. I also want you two to get adjusted to your Japanese names as soon as possible. Don't let me catch you making a mistake so start using your alternative names now."

"Hai, hai." Yamiko smiled.

"One more thing, you guys are not supposed to reveal yourselves to Tsuna when you are doing your duties." And with that, the baby in the fedora hat blended with the crowd and walked away.

Fuyuko's forehead scrunched up as she thought. _What are our duties anyways? Just protecting Tsuna? It looked like Iemitsu had something to say but he couldn't._The two girls hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take them to the said address on the files. When they arrived, Fuyuko paid the taxi driver with some money that Iemitsu gave them before they left.

Yamiko and Fuyuko hauled their suitcases out of the trunk and headed towards a very conspicuous traditional Japanese house.

Fuyuko's eyes widened in awe. "**A traditional Japanese house! Wow, it's so pretty.**"

She rushed in through the wooden gate with an exasperated Yamiko following behind her. They had a fairly well sized backyard that was designed into a Zen garden. There was also a large koi pond to the side with a bamboo rocking fountain, making a gentle soft clicking noise. They stared in awe as they walked on the step stones, leading to the front entrance. They opened the door, taking off their shoes and placing them in the shoe shelf that was inside.

As they walked across the wooden floored hallway they started to open different doors to check out their new home.

Yamiko made an amused face as she walked into a room that had a tatami mat. "**Sliding doors and tatami mats? Did we walk into the Edo era or something?**"

"**Of course not. Sliding doors and tatami mats are still used today you know,**" Fuyuko commented, exploring the room. "**Also, why the Edo era? You could have said the—**"

"**Yeah, I get it. I don't need a history lesson okay? This must be our room.**" The blue-haired girl looked inside curiously. Inside the room were two prepared futons and a bunch of the girl's favorite things. In one of the corners, a bunch of different patterned fabrics sat on top of each other. _Yes! Time to design more clothes, make plushies, et cetera~_

Fuyuko pouted, set down her suitcase, and walked out of the room, heading further down the hallway. "**Heck yes! Tammie, ah I mean Yamiko, come over here!**"

"**What is it this time?**" Yamiko muttered as she headed toward her partner.

Fuyuko was standing in the kitchen, examining the marble counter. It was almost a funny sight. Everything in the house was extremely traditional yet the kitchen was modern, all sparkling white and spotless. Fuyuko grinned crazily as she admired the kitchen.

"**Here goes your cooking obsession.**" Yamiko fingered the counter. "**Though I don't mind, I get good food anyhow.**"

"**Heh, this is going to be fun! Hey, about school lunches; let's take turns.**"

Yamiko walked over to the stove and turned it on. She started to fiddle with the fire. "**Sure.**"

"**If you burn this house down I will kill you, pyromaniac.**" The shorter girl glared at Tammie.

"**C'mon…**" She chuckled. "**I'm not dumb enough to burn my house down…maybe someone else's, but not mine.**"

Fuyuko stepped further away and opened a sliding door, connected to the kitchen. "**I think I found the dining room.**"

Yamiko walked over, examining it. "**Um, that's a unique table.**"

"**Nah, it's traditional!**" Fuyuko exclaimed. The table being discussed was a plain low one that could be folded and put away. Stranger than the table, however, were the chairs. They were like chairs that had the legs cut off and were just sitting on the floor.

Yamiko looked at them weirdly as Fuyuko sighed, "**They aren't strange okay?**"

"**Sure, sure.**" Yamiko walked away examining the other rooms. There was a living room that had a sofa which looked extremely out of place and a few other rooms designed for studying and the like.

"Fuyuko**? Where are you?**" she called out.

Her voice came as a muffle. "**Over here, oof.**"

Puzzled, Yamiko walked over toward the voice. She saw her 'sister' in their bedroom taking down the scroll that hung on the wall.

"**Would you like to explain what you're doing?**" Yamiko asked.

"**Help me out here!**" Fuyuko called. "**I think I found something.**"

Yamiko walked over and Fuyuko handed her the large scroll. "**Uwahh. This is heavy.**"

She stepped forward to the place the scroll used to hang. She examined the wall carefully and pushed it. A section of the wall swung out and revealed a staircase swirling down. They looked at each other.

"**How did you know there was a door there?**" Yamiko asked, surprised.

Fuyuko grinned and pointed to her suitcase. "**It fell and hit the wall with a hollow thump. Hollow like there was something empty behind here.**"

Yamiko nodded. "**Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in!**"

She flipped the lights on; and they headed down the stairs and both stopped, mouths opened wide in surprise at what they saw.

"**Amazing!**" Yamiko cried out as she ran around the room.

The room was designed to be a training room. It was large and open, but that's not what surprised them. All around the room there were weapons hanging on hooks on the wall and placed on shelves. A couple punching bags and mannequins were lined up next to the wall.

Fuyuko gingerly examined the weapons. "**Wow. This house is amazing.**"

"**You said it~!**" Yamiko exclaimed. "**I would look around at the weapons but I'm kind of hungry.**"

Fuyuko nodded. "**Same, let's eat something.**"

As they were walking out of the room, Yamiko spied her long lost weapon. "**So this is where it was hiding! Iemitsu must have had it shipped here~!**" She picked up her loyal traditional Chinese straight sword. "**And look! There's your kurisagama!**" They both shook their head at Iemitsu's lack of explanation.

They climbed the stairs, walked over to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator that was fully stocked with food. They had a light meal, unpacked their suitcases, and soon it was midnight. Fuyuko laid out the futons on the floor and Yamiko let out a yawn.

"**Hey I'm sleeping now,**" she announced.

"**Kay, I'm keeping the lights on though,**" Fuyuko said as she played games on her personal laptop.

Rolling her eyes, Yamiko pulled the cover over herself. "**Good night.**"

"**G'night.**"

Soon Yamiko fell asleep and a while later Fuyuko also followed the suit, both sleeping peacefully throughout the night.

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><p><strong>Ok, the Cactuar reference. If you don't know what this is you need to go to Youtube and watch Cactuar and Tonberry: Gil Quest. It's amazingly hilarious.<strong>

**And yeah, look forward to the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm pretty sure you guys will be able to differentiate our writing. Yukiko's usually has more sarcasm and slightly mature references. They do say your writing reflects your personality. She'll be mad when she sees this.**

**I…just go with the flow? I'm not sure…but how I write is reflected through the fictions I've read, kind of. Well we both are a little creepy…**

**I'm going to stop putting up disclaimers because it's tiring…R&R**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<br>**

"**Hey, wake up.**"

No response. Tammie, or rather, Yamiko twitched in annoyance. She glared at her sister that was curled up in her futon, fast asleep.

She took a deep breath before delivering a flying kick to Fuyuko's head. "**I SAID GET UP YOU MORON!**"

Fuyuko's arm instinctively moved up, blocking the kick. "**Wha?** **Why…are you kicking me?**" she asked drowsily.

Yamiko glared at the sleepy girl that was yawning and stretching. _Like a cat. How…fitting._

"**I'm sorry if your 'past midnight video game session' tired you, but WE HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL TODAY!**" Yamiko shouted.

Fuyuko yawned and got up. "**How long do I have?**"

"**Twenty minutes. Here's your uniform, I'm going to have breakfast,**" she said as she tossed the Namimori Middle School's uniform to her.

Fuyuko looked skeptically at the articles of clothing. She walked in front of the mirror, holding the skirt in front of her. "**You call this skimpy piece of cloth clothing? I'd say it's more like an announcement to guys saying 'Rape me, I'm practically naked anyways.'**"

Yamiko mentally face-palmed as she poured honey over her waffles. "**I can fix it for you later and ****please, can't you let a day pass without one inappropriate joke?**"

"**Sure, give me a pair of pants, easy as that. And you **_**still**_** haven't gotten over your habit of eating waffles with honey?**" Fuyuko said dryly.

"**Shut up and wear the uniform.**"

"**Fine, fine.**"

She put on the uniform with knee high black stockings and grimaced at herself in the mirror. _This is not right. I look too…cute and girly. _She scavenged through her stuff and pulled out multiple bangles and chains, putting them on. She turned back to the mirror. _There, that's more like it, kind of gives off the badass feel._

Yamiko sighed. "**Why can't you go for one day without breaking some kind of rule?**"

"**As much as I love Japan, being girly is definitely a no-no on my list.**"

"**Don't come whining to me when you get in trouble.**" She tsk-ed while pulling up her short white stockings, contrasting with Fuyuko.

"**Whining, another no-no on my list.**"

"**I get it, now hurry, we have to leave.**"

Fuyuko obliged as she grabbed her bag and stepped out the door.

They carefully locked the door behind them and walked out toward the direction of the school.

Fuyuko put her hands behind her head. "You know, you should start speaking Japanese on a daily basis."

"**Why?**"

Fuyuko wagged her finger at Yamiko. "Ah, ah. Japanese, my dear."

"Ugh. Oh fine. But, you know when we have to discuss something about **Tsuna. Then we should speak in English.**"

"Good point. I'll keep that in mind. **Be sure that you don't mention anything about the mafia.**"

Yamiko waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah. I know."

When they arrived they headed for the teachers' office and announced that they were new students.

A middle aged man looked up at them and rose. "You two must be the new sisters in my class. I'm your sensei, Kiyomoto. Follow me."

He led them down a hallway and instructed them to wait outside the door of the classroom. They waited until they heard him call for them and walked in.

Kiyomoto-sensei stood at the front of the class. "Please introduce yourselves."

"Hi~! I'm Fujisaki Yamiko. I'm Chinese but from, and born in America. I kind of have an English accent and my grammar isn't the best but please take care of me!" She smiled as she cheerfully skipped to the front of the room and made a peace sign with her fingers. The people in the class seemed to have a flowery aura after listening to her.

Fuyuko walked up as well with a slight bored look on her face. "I'm Korean but was born and raised in the states. My name's Fujisaki Fuyuko."

The students stared at her in awe of her fluent Japanese but were put off by her cold tone.

A student spoke up. "Are you sisters? If so how are you two different races?"

Yamiko looked over at Fuyuko with an 'I didn't think of this, did you?' look.

Fuyuko responded to Yamiko with a 'No shit I didn't, I didn't even read the files properly' face.

Yamiko returned with a 'Maybe we should have then' expression and shook her head at the weird exchange they were having.

Sighing, Yamiko answered back. "Well, we're um, adopted sisters…"

Fuyuko nodded approvingly and turned towards the teacher. "Our seats?"

He pointed to the back of the room where two extra seats were added, one in front of the other. He thought about commenting how their hair color and accessories were against school rules but decided against it. _Hibari-san would get angry enough at them._

They walked over and took a seat, barely listening as class went on. After what seemed like a couple years passing by to Yamiko, the bell for lunch rang.

_Finally!_ Yamiko turned around in her desk, facing Fuyuko who was sitting behind her.

"**Wow, after not being in a public school for a long time this is really a bore.**" Yamiko yawned.

Fuyuko slumped over her desk. "**I'm not supposed to be at school now! All the things to do, I have yet to even visit Shibuya or walk the streets of Harajuku! Why, oh why are we stuck in school, babysitting some little kid?**"

"**Little kid? He's only a year younger than us. Why are we in middle school anyways? Shouldn't we be in high school?**"

"**Nah, middle school here in Japan runs from 7****th**** to 9****th**** grade. Also—**"

"**Yeah, yeah.**" Yamiko cut her off. "**I don't need you to sprout out more knowledge on Japan. You never know when to stop.**"

"**Hey—**" Fuyuko started to say as some students from her class crowded around them, interrupting their conversation. _Why do I feel as if I get interrupted a lot these days?_

Yamiko gave a small chuckle, seeing Fuyuko's annoyed face. "Do you guys need anything?" she asked the crowd.

"Can you guys speak foreign languages to the EXTREME?" a silver haired boy asked.

"Yup! I can speak Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and English. Fuyuko can speak the same except Korean instead of Chinese." Yamiko answered and then faced toward Fuyuko. "**I think that's the sun guardian.**"

Fuyuko merely lifted her eyebrows. _Interesting. _Then she faced away from the crowd of people.

"Fuyuko-san you don't talk much, do you?" inquired a girl.

Fuyuko offered no reply and Yamiko looked over at her.

To the normal person it would have looked like Fuyuko was just ignoring the crowd but Yamiko knew her better than that. Fuyuko's breathing was slightly shallow and she seemed a little tense. Yamiko made a concerned face. _What's going on? Oh yeah she—_

Her train of thought was cut off when Fuyuko suddenly rose and cut through the crowd. Yamiko bowed and apologized to her classmates, and followed after her as they walked down the hallway.

"**I'm guessing you didn't pack lunch?**" Fuyuko asked, finally speaking.

"**Oops,**" Yamiko apologized. "**Was I supposed to make today's?**"

"**Nope, it was me.**"

Yamiko smacked Fuyuko on the head. "**Smart. Now are we supposed to starve?**"

"**Technically, yes. Oh crud, here comes another crowd.**"

A swarm of people came up to them asking if they were the new foreigners. In the distance Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera were also walking toward the crowd.

"Hey, yakyuu-baka, what are we doing here anyways?" Gokudera asked.

"Well I heard there were two new foreign sempais. Isn't that interesting?" Yamamoto said, with his trademark smile plastered on his face.

"E-eh, but if people crowd around like this wouldn't Hibari-san come?" Tsuna asked nervously.

"Speak of the devil," Gokudera muttered.

Hibari came walking in, his mysterious piano music playing in the background. His eyes narrowed at the crowd. "Why are you herbivores crowding. Leave or I'll bite you to death."

People panicked and started to move away from the dangerous prefect's path. Soon only the two girls and the mafia gang were left.

Fuyuko let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall, her breathing rough. Her face was slightly pale and Yamiko looked over at her in concern.

"**Hey, you're okay right?**" Yamiko asked.

"**Yeah, I'm fine now.**" Fuyuko nodded blearily.

"E-eto, are you ok?" Tsuna asked nervously.

They looked over at him, both thinking the same thing. _The Vongola Boss._

"Don't worry about her she's just, **claustrophobic.** How do you say it in Japanese?" Yamiko tilted her head as she racked her brain for the right term.

"密室恐怖症…or something like that." Fuyuko stood back up.

They all suddenly felt a murderous aura and turned toward the angry prefect.

"Why are you guys still crowding? I'll bite you to death, herbivores."

"HIEE, I'm so sorry Hibari-san. We'll leave now!" Tsuna apologized, clearly frightened out of his wits.

"Hey! You bastard, you can't go around threatening Juudaime like that!" Gokudera shouted.

Hibari turned away from them and faced the girls. "Your hair color and accessories are against school rules. For that, I will bite you to death."

"**I think that's the cloud guardian.**" Yamiko said.

"**Huh, well I think he plans to kill us…**" Fuyuko responded as she saw Hibari charging toward them.

He swung his tonfa aiming at both of their heads and they both dodged the blow in opposite directions.

Hibari seemed surprised and miffed that his attack hadn't hit. "Wao, pretty good for an herbivore."

"Oh, look Fuyuko. He speaks in a condescending tone like you! Plus he seems to hate crowds. I think you'd get along~!" Yamiko joked as Tsuna and the others stared that the girls in amazement.

"Nah, I make it a point to never to hang out with people that randomly try to kill me," Fuyuko replied in the same joking manner.

"T-they dodged Hibari-san's tonfa!" Tsuna exclaimed. His hyper intuition told him something was off about these girls. _They don't seem to be like normal students._

"They managed to dodge Hibari! That's amazing!" Yamamoto laughed.

Hibari swung again toward Fuyuko and she ducked. Then she swiftly moved closer to Yamiko. "**Escape time?**"

Yamiko nodded. "**We can't exactly fight in front of them. Our cover will be blown.**"

Fuyuko smirked, "Hey, Hibari or whatever your name is. I think I should point out a few things for you about Yamiko. One, this blue is her natural hair color, believe it or not. Hey, and I've seen a girl with orange hair walking around this school, so I believe that proves my case. Unless you're going to tell me you let that other girl pass like that? Besides there is a way to prove her hair color if you know what I mean." Fuyuko laughed at her joke while Yamiko elbowed her, slightly embarrassed.

Hibari ignored her inappropriate joke and glanced skeptically over at Yamiko as Fuyuko continued to talk. "Two, unless my eyes have started to fail me, I'm pretty sure she isn't wearing any accessories. So you don't have anything to call her out for."

"You guys were crowding. That's plenty enough reason." Hibari stated.

Fuyuko scoffed at the idea. "Me? Crowding? If you haven't noticed I'm fucking claustrophobic. Crowding with a bunch of assholes is the last thing I would do. Plus they were the ones that came and started surrounding us."

Hibari wasn't impressed. "Bad language is forbidden. Plus, you are wearing accessories and your hair is dyed." He lunged for her.

_So. Freaking. Annoying._ "Geez, piss off will you? And how do you know? It could be natural." She dodged another blow. _Damn he's fast. Well it's not natural after all so I guess I can't defend my case, huh._

Fuyuko glanced over to Yamiko and made some weird signals. Yamiko then ran over to Tsuna and the others.

"Hey, Fuyuko's going to do something that's going to get us all killed if we don't run away in time. So when I give you the signal, run like the devil himself is chasing after you. Or actually," Yamiko glanced at Hibari. "Run like that scary guy is chasing after you because I'm pretty sure he's going to get pissed at and start chasing after us."

"Why should we listen to you?" Gokudera spat.

Yamiko's eye twitched. _I'm trying to save his sorry ass and he says what?_

"Maa, maa Gokudera. She's trying to help us here. I'm sure everything will work out fine!" Yamamoto reassured.

She grinned. _At least this one listens. Optimistic too, think I'll get along with him._

Tsuna stared nervously. "What is uh…she going to do?"

"Fuyuko." Yamiko filled in for him.

"What is Fuyuko-sempai going to do?" Tsuna asked.

Yamiko thought. _What is she planning?_ "Well, knowing her it's probably something crazy and….crazy. Most of her plans are; but they are reliable, you can't deny that."

"O-ok…" Tsuna said, unsure and confused.

They all looked over to Fuyuko who was currently rubbing her sore arm; she had gotten hit by Hibari.

Yamiko raised her eyebrows in surprise. _He managed to hit Vicky? Wow, he must be pretty fast. _

Fuyuko glared at Hibari. "That hurt."

He smirked. "It was supposed to hurt."

Yamiko chuckled. "Hey, you guys match better than I thought, you both are sadists."

Cue double glare.

Fuyuko turned back to Hibari and yawned. "This is getting dull."

She calmly walked over to the wall and leaned against it. A smile grew on her face. "Oh, you have no idea how much I've wanted to do this." And with that she pressed the fire alarm button.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* The alarm rang in their ears. Hibari's eyes grew wide, "You-"

He was cut off by Yamiko's excited shout. "Guys, now's the time! Run for your life!"

The five of them ran as Hibari attempted to follow but he was blocked by the panicking students who were running out of classrooms, trying to exit the building that was on "fire".

Hibari quivered in anger as he stalked back to his disciplinary room. _Those herbivores are dead._

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><p><strong>You guys ever tempted to push the fire alarm? Don't you want to pull it because it says don't pull? Gah, life's temptations.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**So…here we meet again.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<br>**

Fuyuko and Yamiko ran out of the school building, bursting with laughter. Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera were following right behind them. They rounded the back of the building to hide while the other students rushed out of the school that was supposedly on fire.

"Did you see his face? It was priceless!" Fuyuko gripped her sides laughing uncontrollably.

"That's such a dangerous thing to do. Turning on the fire alarm? You are so insane." Yamiko gasped for breath, trying to contain her unstoppable giggles.

Tsuna stared at the girls in disbelief. _How can they be laughing like this? Don't they understand Hibari-san's going to kill them now?_

Yamiko wiped a few tears of laughter before turning to the guys. "Sorry we pulled you guys into this. I guess we should formally introduce ourselves." She bowed as she spoke, "Hi, I'm Fujisaki Yamiko; Chinese heritage and born in America, a new foreign exchange student here."

Tsuna and Yamamoto also bowed in return.

"A-ah, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi," Tsuna nervously spoke.

"Yamamoto Takeshi! Nice to meet you!"

"Tch, Gokudera Hayato, Juudaime's right hand man," Gokudera muttered, refusing to bow.

Yamiko happily addressed them. "Eto… How about Tsu-kun, Yama-kun, and Goku-chan?"

"Why the hell am _I_ the only with 'chan' attached to the end?" the silver-headed boy fumed while Yamiko giggled silently.

Fuyuko stifled a yawn. "I am Fujisaki Fuyuko, Korean but born in the states." _I'm getting tired of introducing myself._

"Oi! How can you act so rudely to Juudaime? Bow!" Gokudera barked.

A vein pulsed on Fuyuko's forehead. _You stupid kid, if I wasn't undercover right now I would have you down on your knees begging for mercy this instant! _"Excuse me? I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest here. If anyone, you guys should all bow to _me_! Learn your Japanese customs correctly, brat."

"Why you—!"

"C-calm down, Gokudera," Tsuna tried to control his friend's temper.

Gokudera unwillingly backed down. "Fine, but only because Juudaime says so."

"A-ano, what are we going to do now?" Tsuna asked nervously.

Yamiko hesitantly responded, "If we go back in right now there's no kidding what might happen to us. But then again, knowing Fuyuko she must have planned this far."

The four of them turned to Fuyuko who was staring at the wall that encircled the whole school. It was four feet and ten inches high, three inches shorter than Fuyuko.

"Let's play hooky." Fuyuko suggested.

Tsuna's jaw dropped down and Yamiko face-palmed, shaking her head.

"Sounds like fun!" Yamamoto commented.

Tsuna's face grew pale. "B-but if we skip, Hibari-san's going to kill us!"

"I never said you had to come." Fuyuko tapped her foot impatiently. "Besides, even if you stay here you're going to get killed anyways. Might as well prolong the short life you have."

"How dare you speak to Juudaime that way?" Gokudera shouted.

Fuyuko shrugged. "Whatever, do what you want. I'm leaving."

The group snuck back into the building to get their school bags, caving in to Fuyuko's delinquent suggesting. They came back out and Fuyuko walked back to the wall.

She pushed herself up on the wall and swung over with one hand. She winced and her arm weakened, making her fall down on the other side. She sat there, her butt in the gravel as she held her limp arm.

Yamiko ran over and leaned over the wall. "Are you okay?"

The others walked over and Fuyuko looked up at them. "Do I look okay?"

"Is it broken?" Yamiko asked worriedly.

Fuyuko felt her arm. "Nah, probably just bruised the bone. Thanks to that anti-social sadist."

"Should we go to the hospital or something?" Tsuna asked.

"No, it's not like they're going to do much. I just need to ice it and maybe bandage it…" Fuyuko commented. "I guess I should go raid the nurse's office."

She stood up and faced the wall._ How am I supposed to get over this stupid wall?_

Yamiko let out a stream of laughter, sensing the other girl's hesitation. "Can't get over?"

Fuyuko scowled. _Now, if I break this wall down, I'm pretty sure my 'just a regular student' image will fly out the window. Plus I'll have a rabid prefect chasing after me. Well I could just to a hand less backward flip over it._ She looked down at herself._ I'm wearing a skirt. I swear it's the most inconvenient type of clothing ever. How are you supposed to fight without flashing anyone?_

She groaned and mulled over the rest of her options. Climbing a tree was out of her source of possibilities since her arm was busted.

While she was thinking, Yamiko chuckled. "You know you could just have Yama-kun lift you up, since he's tall enough."

Fuyuko looked at Yamiko stubbornly. "No, I don't need help."

"Oh please." Yamiko rolled her eyes. "Don't go into your 'I can manage by myself' mode.

Fuyuko spread out a murderous aura and returned to glaring at the wall.

Sighing, Yamiko faced Yamamoto and mouthed, 'Just pull her over.'

He nodded cheerfully and reached over the wall, which was easy for him considering his height. Fuyuko, too busy staring down the wall, didn't notice him until he grabbed her waist to pull her over.

She shouted in protest as he was lifting her. "Hey! Pervert, let me go!"

She was quickly swung over and landed on the other side safely. Then she fixated a glare on Yamamoto who chuckled nervously.

He pointed guiltily at Yamiko. "She said to…"

Fuyuko sighed and smacked Yamiko on the head with her unhurt arm. "Don't go around giving people permission to do things."

"Hey, where you going?" Yamiko asked as Fuyuko walked away.

Fuyuko called over her shoulder. "To raid the nurse's office, duh."

"Do you even know where it is?" Yamiko asked as she was answered by silence. She sighed and turned toward the guys. "Can you guys show us the way?"

Tsuna hesitantly agreed so the five of them carefully made their way over to the nurse's office trying to avoid Hibari's patrols. Gokudera knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to bring the two girls to the nurse but he wanted to see how things played out. During the scene with Hibari, Fuyuko and Yamiko had shown some impressive moves but the silver-headed teen didn't want to say anything yet.

Tsuna guided the troop to the office's window. Fuyuko and Yamiko scrutinized the window's lock and in a second, Yamiko picked it open.

Tsuna looked at her in surprise. "Eh? How did you do that?"

"Just picked up a few tricks here and there." Yamiko nervously spoke. _I learned it from your dad, Tsuna, but I can't exactly tell you that._

Inside, they found a classic nurse's office: green curtains, glass paneled cabinets filled with medicine, and three cots for injured people.

"I don't think the nurse is here right now." Yamiko looked around.

A deep, matured voice cut in. "Hello ladies."

Fuyuko and Yamiko whipped around to see a man in his mid-thirties trying to flirt with them. The two simultaneously kicked him where 'the sun don't shine' and the man doubled over in pain.

Fuyuko recognized the man and narrowed her eyes. _Trident Shamal's here? This is annoying._

She turned toward Yamiko. "**I didn't hear about this pervert being here."**

"**We didn't read the files so..."**

"**Shit, I guess I should read those!**" Fuyuko complained, rubbing the back of her neck. "Listen, you prostitute. All we need is some gauze and we'll get out of here."

Shamal thought otherwise. "Aw, you don't have to do that by yourself. After all, I _am_ the nurse."

"Aren't nurses supposed to bewomen?" Fuyuko questioned.

Yamiko shook her head. "Geez, you're so stereotypical, Fuyuko. They can be both."

"Now, now don't be so unfriendly." Shamal winked with his arms wide open, ready to hug the girls. "We're all friends here and potentially more~"

Fuyuko felt a chill of disgust go up her spine and Yamiko looked ready to vomit her organs out. The three forgotten boys knew this wouldn't end well and were about to go help the girls, but their newly made friends both punched Shamal in the stomach. He grunted in pain and the boys looked on in surprise.

A raging, murderous aura rose from the two girls as they glared at Shamal. In merely minutes, they had Shamal begging for mercy, beaten up, and tied to his chair.

"A-ano..." Tsuna stuttered. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"

Fuyuko turned around to look at Tsuna. "Perverts like him deserve this much."

"There goes Fuyuko's hate for rapists, pervs, and the like~! Any perv she meets, she beats up!" Yamiko giggled.

Gokudera sweat-dropped. _Why is she giggling while saying something like that?_

Yamiko giggled again and patted Shamal on the head. "Now you be a good nurse now, ok?"

"Once a perv, always a perv." Fuyuko scoffed, while searching through cabinets. "Found it."

She took out a roll of bandages and an ice pack from the fridge. She tried to wrap her left arm with great difficulty, scowling at her failed attempt.

Yamamoto chuckled and stepped forward. "Want me to help you?"

Fuyuko shook her head stubbornly as she tried to wrap her arm once more.

"When people offer help, accept it will you?" Yamiko shook her head in disapproval.

Just like before, Yamiko shot Yamamoto a look. In seconds, Fuyuko's arm was nicely wrapped with an ice pack on it. Fuyuko pouted but let it go, knowing Yamiko just wanted the best for her.

"Hey!" Shamal pleaded. "Are you guys planning to untie me?"

Fuyuko smiled scarily at him.

_Not good, her sadistic side is activating! Got to leave quickly. _Yamiko thought, panicking inwardly. She grabbed Fuyuko's unhurt arm and dragged her out the window, the boys following after. Shamal's cries could be heard from outside but the group ignored him. Fuyuko paced the school grounds, still pissed off at Shamal. Yamiko knew better than to interrupt her fury.

Yamiko looked at the others. "You guys want to come over to our house?" She ignored the glare Fuyuko sent her and smiled toward the guys.

Tsuna reeled back in shock. "Eh? But we only met you today! That would be intruding!"

"No worries~! Besides, our house gets lonely because it's only us two living in it." Yamiko smiled.

Tsuna hesitantly agreed. "Ok…"

"If Juudaime says so…"

Fuyuko sighed and shook her head. _T__here's no stopping Yamiko once she decides something. _

And so the five teens went off towards Fuyuko and Yamiko's house.

Once they got to the house, Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto were amazed by the traditional home. Yamiko laughed at their expressions as they walked inside the house. The three boys had never seen an actual Japanese home in a while.

Tsuna looked around in amazement while Gokudera glared at everything as if something would blow up in their faces. Yamamoto strolled through the garden admiring the landscaping.

"Wow! This place is impressive! How did you guys get such an amazing place?" Yamamoto whistled.

Fuyuko and Yamiko looked at each other. Yamiko stuttered out a lie. "W-we...have connections..."

_Yeah, that doesn't sound suspicious at all. _Fuyuko thought sarcastically.

Gokudera narrowed his eyes. _That's sounds highly suspicious. I must protect Juudaime, there may be bombs set here. You never know when it comes to these two girls. I think they may be more than just two transfer students. Perhaps… unidentified species? I must research some more at home._

The rest of the afternoon passed by as a blur. The group got to get to know each other better and finished up some homework. Later, the younger teens left for dinner.

The three boys thought of their eventful day.

"Do you guys get a feeling that Fuyuko and Yamiko are hiding something?" Tsuna said his thoughts out loud.

Yamamoto agreed. "Yeah, you're hyper intuition is working well!"

Gokudera hummed in agreement not wanting to let Tsuna know what he was thinking. The threesome reached Tsuna's house and said their goodbyes; soon it was just Yamamoto and Gokudera walking.

"Uh oh!" Yamamoto's eyes widened.

"What now, yakyuu-baka?" Gokudera scoffed.

"I kind of left my math book at Fuyuko-sempai and Yamiko-sempai's place."

Gokudera mumbled something incoherent and grabbed Yamamoto by the collar, dragging him off towards the girls' house.

Meanwhile at the Fujisaki's house, the two girls sat outside on the risen wooden platform that encircled their house.

"Ah, man…" Fuyuko complained while rubbing her sore arm. "I'm definitely pummeling that creepy bastard."

Yamiko shook her head and undid Fuyuko's bandage. She thought for a minute and an idea came up to her head, she drew a quick breath.

"Yamiko. I know what you're thinking. That's way too risky_._" Fuyuko gave a piercing glare.

Yamiko winced. "B-but—"

"Yes, yes, I know. 'I only want to help you.'"

"I have to do this. You never know when someone is going to target Tsuna."

Fuyuko thought a bit, debating in her mind whether or not to take the risk. "...Fine."

Yamiko smiled and went to her room to retrieve her most precious instrument, a piccolo. She walked through the halls and finally arrived at their bedroom. Going over to her school bag, she thought about the risks that she was taking. _As long as I don't overdo this._

She puttered back into the garden where they were previously sitting.

Fuyuko placed a hand on the musician's shoulder. "You don't have to do this you know."

Yamiko rolled her eyes at Fuyuko's feeble attempt to change her mind. She closed her eyes slightly, took a deep breath, and started to play _Morning Song_ by Edward Grieg. A yellow glow surrounded Fuyuko as the sweet melody wrapped around them. The vibrato formed by her beautiful playing created little waves of yellow light. Fuyuko sat in contentment, listening to the music as the glow started to center around her injured arm.

Gokudera continued to curse the baseball fanatic as they walked through the neighborhood. _It's not like he uses his textbook anyways. Why do I have to go through this because of him?_

Yamamoto smiled as he recognized the huge house. "Ok! We're here now!"

They entered the gate and were about to knock on the front door but stopped when they heard Fuyuko's soft voice. "You don't have to do this you know."

It was silent after that, and the two boys didn't want to interrupt whatever was happening. Even though they only met her for a day, they knew Fuyuko's voice never turned soft in front of other people. It was a connection that only the two adopted sisters had.

A soft, beautiful, unfamiliar melody followed and a strange yellow glow was casted in the garden.

Gokudera quickly yanked the taller boy into the bushes. "I have a feeling that we shouldn't be here."

Yamamoto silently agreed, closed his eyes and started to relax to the music. All of a sudden, the boys heard a 'thunk' and the clattering of an object.

"Crap! Yamiko! Gah, why did you overexert yourself?"

A few more curses followed and the boys took this as their cue to leave.

"What do you think happened?" Yamamoto asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"I have no idea. I don't think that we should mention this to Juudaime or the girls—"

Yamamoto looked at Gokudera in surprise. The silver headed teen never hid anything from his boss.

"—because it would worry Juudaime too much and Fuyuko would personally come and chop off our heads." Gokudera's eyes blazed with an unidentifiable expression.

"Yeah... that's true." _I hope he didn't notice that we didn't even get my book_.

"So, what are we going to do about your book?"

Yamamoto sweat-dropped and shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just hope that they bring it tomorrow."

And then they each walked back to their own houses, filled with confusion and suspicion.

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><p><strong>Secrets are slowly being revealed! Slowly… very, very slowly.<strong> **I wonder...what was that yellow glow? **(*≧▽≦)

**R&R**


	5. Chapter 5

**KHR is not owned by us (Mi-chan and Kiyomizu Yukiko), but by Akira Amano. We only own the OC's and the arc/plot! R&R!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<br>**

"How's your arm?" Yamiko stretched as she got up for school the next day.

"Better. Thanks." Fuyuko was already awake.

"Which reminds me... How did I end up in bed? I thought that—"

"I dragged you."

Yamiko sweat-dropped. _Doesn't she have a better way to put it then...dragged? Unless I really was dragged which would explain my sore shoulder._

"I'm making breakfast so hurry up and get ready." Fuyuko walked out of the room to go to the kitchen.

"Hai!" Yamiko excitedly replied, stretching and crawling out of bed. _Fuyuko's cooking, yum! I'm so tired today...probably because of yesterday. Fuyuko seems kind of...angry? No, upset. I wonder what's wrong._

Yamiko quickly changed into her uniform and swung by the kitchen. She sat down to eat a plate of blueberry pancakes on the table. As she reached out to grab one, a spatula hit her hands.

"Wash your hands," Fuyuko commanded. "No bad manners in my kitchen."

"Since when whhhhas this _your_ kitchen?" Yamiko asked cockily before she rushed off to the sink, avoiding another smack.

After she washed her hands, she did her hair, tying it in a high ponytail to the side. Then, she walked back into the kitchen to find Fuyuko tiredly poking at her pancakes with a fork.

Fuyuko looked up to see Yamiko coming in. "Hey…sorry 'bout yesterday."

"Is that why you seem so down today?" Yamiko inquired, sitting to eat her pancakes. "You're silly, it was my choice to use that power. Besides no pain, no gain as my old shi fu reminded me day after day. Except it sounded more like 'NO PAY NO GAY'. He just couldn't seem to get the 'n' sound in…"

Fuyuko grumbled and continued to eat. "Hurry up. We don't want to be late. We still have to give Yamamoto's math book back. I found it in our room this morning."

"Ah, okay~ I want to see Yama-kun, Goku-chan, and Tsu-kun this morning anyways." After thinking about their new friends, Yamiko rushed around getting ready for school while Fuyuko just kept going at her own pace. "Oi! Yuko! I'm going to leave without you!"

"Ugh. I'm coming... And what's with the weird nickname? 'Yuko'...?"

"That was just out of impulse."

"... Ok, then." Fuyuko shook her head and finally got her things ready. Yamiko impatiently waited at the door, her feet fidgeting. Fuyuko sighed as she put her shoes on and tied up the top portion of her hair messily. She then walked out the door with an eager Yamiko following behind.

The two girls walked to school silently and Yamiko sighed as she saw Fuyuko's guilt ridden face. _She is taking this way too seriously._

"Fuyuko~ Stop letting that bother you..."

Fuyuko stopped in the middle of the street and fumed. "It's all 'cause of that bastard!"

"Calm down now..." Yamiko reassured her. "It's fine really, I was only out for the night."

Fuyuko sighed, smiled weakly, and the girls continued to head off for school.

At school, they sat through boring lectures until the bell rang for lunch. Then they went to look for Yamamoto's class to give him his textbook back.

"Ano..." Yamiko stopped a passing kohai. "Do you know where Yamamoto Takeshi's class is?"

The younger girl gave a suspicious look. "Why do you need to know where Takeshi-sama is? Are you part of the fan-club as well?"

Fuyuko had an amused expression on her face. "Fan-club?"

Yamiko tried again. "How about Gokudera Hayato?"

"Wait... you can't be in more than one club," the fan-girl said.

And again. "Then... what about Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"You're looking for that Dame-Tsuna? Psht. Room 2-A."

Yamiko thanked the girl and the two were about to leave when the fan-girl called out to them.

"Hey wait, I don't care about Dame-Tsuna, but don't you two try making advances on our school idols."

Fuyuko laughed and looked at the girl with a smirk on her face. "Hey, is that anyway to speak to your sempai?"

The fan-girl approached Fuyuko with a pissed off expression. "Look here, I don't care if you're older than me, but you will _not_ speak badly about Takeshi-sama!"

"Oh really now...well I have two words for you little girl, FUCK OFF," Fuyuko said coolly as she flipped the younger girl off. "And you know, that Yamamoto guy is extremely airheaded. And that octopus-haired guy, I think he's gay; do you see the way he hangs around Tsuna?"

Yamiko suppressed a chuckle after seeing the other girl's stunned face and dragged Fuyuko off to the said class before some fan-girls started to chase them. After fast-walking through the halls, they bumped into Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Tsuna.

"I heard what you said... you guys are so mean..." Yamamoto feigned hurt in a childish way.

Gokudera on the other hand felt differently. "YOU STUPID WOMAN. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. YOU DISRESPECTED JUUDAIME. WE AREN'T GAY. IN FACT, JUUDAIME LIKES—"

"HEIII, Gokudera! Don't! It's embarrassing." Tsuna covered his bright red face. "Anyways, I'm sure they have a reason to say such hateful things..."

"Nah, not really," Fuyuko said. "It was kind of just my first impressions of you. Plus that girl was ticking me off."

Yamiko waved her hands in a placating gesture and shook her head. "No, no. Of course we don't think that way." _At least...I don't._

Yamamoto just chuckled. "So why were you guys looking for us?"

"Here—" Yamiko pulled out his math book out of her bag. "You forgot this at our house yesterday."

"Oh yeah! Good timing! Math is next class!" Yamamoto cheered.

Gokudera looked at him strangely. "What are you talking about, you idiot, math was during first period."

"Eh?" Yamamoto said, confused. "Wasn't that History?"

"HOW WAS THAT HISTORY? DOES YOUR BRAIN EVEN FUNCTION?" Gokudera shouted, exasperated.

Fuyuko mentally face-palmed. _This proves what I said earlier_.

Yamiko bounced to Yamamoto's side. "Ne, ne do you guys want to eat lunch with us?"

"Only if you want to deal with the irritating women." Gokudera glared at the fan-girls that were starting to surround the five friends.

"Should I press the fire alarm again?" Fuyuko drawled lazily.

"NO!" Yamiko and Tsuna yelled while Yamamoto just laughed.

Fuyuko grumbled and started to make her way to the crowd of rabid fan-girls. "Hey, sluts. You guys mind moving?"

"What did you just call us?" a girl with horribly applied make-up screeched.

Yamiko smirked. _Don't you dare leave me out of this fun. _She faked a look of concern and looked at the girl. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

"Huh?" the girl asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. As I'm taking a closer look at you…is your face supposed to be like that? Oh my bad, your make up is so screwed up that I thought something might have happened."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Fuyuko scanned the crowd of rabid girls and came across the pack leader.

"What the hell is that?" She covered her eyes and pointed to the leader with plastic surgery. "Oh... oops. That's your face."

The fan-girls stood in shock, appalled at the foreign students. A girl grabbed Fuyuko's arm, stopping her from escaping the crowd. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Fuyuko huffed in annoyance, blowing her bangs away from her face. She fixed the girl with her coldest glare and pushed her arm away. "Don't touch me so casually, whore." Turning on her heel, she walked off.

Yamiko called out to the others, "Yama-kun, Tsu-kun, Goku-chan, let's go follow Fuyuko!"

They willingly followed to get away from the crazy girls. They could hear the fan-girls wailing about how their 'Takeshi-sama' was called 'Yama-kun' and how their 'Hayato-sama' was degraded to a girly 'Goku-chan'.

Yamiko pouted hearing this. _Aw, my cute nicknames are being made fun of._

Yamamoto noticed Yamiko's dramatic change in attitude. "Don't worry... I like the nickname you gave me." He flashed her a blinding smile.

Yamiko brightened up and ran to catch up with Fuyuko. "Let's go eat in the courtyard~"

Fuyuko agreed. _Good. The pack of wolves won't be out there. I hate being claustrophobic._

They headed outside when an angry Yamamoto fan pushed Yamiko, causing her to trip over a tree root and fall down, twisting her foot slightly. She winced in pain and dusted her skirt off. Fuyuko whipped around to glare at the girl, but Yamamoto beat her to it.

"What was that for?" His cheerful demeanor diminished. "What did Yamiko-sempai do to you?

The girl was surprised by her idol's harsh tone. "A-ano..." she stuttered nervously in guilt and ran away with shame.

Fuyuko whistled. "I never thought you could speak like that. Took the words right out of my mouth."

Yamamoto's serious expression disappeared and was replaced by a concerned one. He bent down to help Yamiko up. "Are you ok, Yamiko-sempai?"

"Yeah, thanks." Yamiko attempted to get up.

Fuyuko watched this all with a thoughtful expression. _Hm, caring and protective. However, I can't give my approval that easily…they are compatible, though._

Yamiko stood up and collapsed in pain. She almost hit the ground again but grabbed onto Fuyuko's outstretched arm just in time. "Thanks," she panted.

"You'd better sit down somewhere…" Tsuna suggested, noting Yamiko's bad ankle.

As they walked over to a nearby bench, Gokudera looked suspiciously at Fuyuko's arm that was holding up Yamiko. "Didn't you bruise that bone yesterday?"

Yamiko and Fuyuko both stopped, starting to sweat bullets. Hell froze over and the devil started to creep out into the earth.

Fuyuko quickly stuttered out some lies. "I, uh...heal fast, yeah that's it..."

"Y-yeah!" Yamiko agreed. "Fast healing, _very_ fast healing."

"Oh...I see." Gokudera's eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion.

Boot-kick that devil's behind back into his domain. Safe. Yamiko let out a huge breath of air. They sat down at the bench and pulled out their bentos.

Fuyuko nibbled on a piece of eel tamagoyaki. "You should go to the nurse to get your foot wrapped, Yamiko."

Yamiko nodded in consent, chewing on a piece of tonkatsu and looked at Gokudera. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Gokudera replied nonchalantly.

She used the back of her chopstick to nudge the bread he was holding. "That."

"Hey! Don't touch my food, woman!"

Fuyuko chuckled. "That's yakisoba bread; you've never seen one before, huh."

"Yakisoba? That Japanese noodle thingy?" She looked at it apprehensively.

"Yeah. Is there something wrong with it?" Gokudera snapped.

"No... I just want to know what it tastes like..." Yamiko pouted. "What's in it?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's Japanese stir fry noodles put in a piece of bread. Hence the name—yakisoba bread."

"Oh~ Sounds yummy~ Can I have some?" Her eyes shined hopefully.

Gokudera grumbled and handed her the half-eaten sandwich. Yamiko thanked him cheerfully and took a bite from where he also bit. Gokudera blushed and snatched the yakisoba bread out of her hands.

"Don't eat all of it, woman!"

"Oh~ that's good! Fuyuko make me some!" Yamiko cheered.

"Next time..." Fuyuko said, putting away her lunch. She got up to her feet. "I'm going to the nurse's office to go steal an icepack"

"A-ah! We'll go with you." Tsuna offered.

Fuyuko walked off. "No, it's fine, stay with Yamiko."

They watched her leave and Yamiko softly murmured something under her breath. "Ah, there she goes off by herself again…She always did have a habit of leaving people behind."

Yamamoto gave her a soft look. "Do you think one of us should go?"

"Yeah...Goku-chan, can you go follow her?" she asked meekly.

Seeing that Yamiko's ankle was starting to swell up, he jogged off in Fuyuko's direction without a complaint.

Tsuna and Yamamoto looked at her ankle in concern. "HIEEE. You're ankle is swelling! What do we do?"

_Geez, I wish I could just use...that...but then Fuyuko would get angry at me. _"It's ok, Fuyuko and Goku-chan should be getting me an ice pack." Yamiko gripped her ankle tighter.

All of a sudden the boxing team captain showed up, hooking his arm around Tsuna's neck. "OI, SAWADA! LET'S GO BOX TO THE EXTREMEE!"

"Onii-san!" Tsuna yelped, surprised by his sudden appearance.

Yamiko tilted her head in thought and looked at the boxer. "Oh! You're in my class!"

"OH! YEAH, YOU'RE THAT EXTREME FOREIGNER WITH EXTREMELY BLUE HAIR!" Ryohei remembered. He turned back around, grabbed Tsuna's shoulders, and started waving him around. "ONE OF OUR MEMBERS GOT HURT TO THE EXTREME, SO WE'RE MISSING A MEMBER! SO YOU NEED TO PRACTICE WITH US TO THE EXTREMEEEE! LET'S GO, SAWADA!"

He ignored Tsuna's feeble protests and dragged the poor brunet. Yamamoto laughed at the usual scene and Yamiko tilted her head and watched the clouds float through the sky. Yamiko sighed. _If only Ryohei-kun knew I was part of the mafia…Then he could heal this dang ankle of mine._

"Hey, Yama-kun." She nudged his arm and laid down on the grass. "Don't you think that looks like a pinwheel?"

Yamamoto laid down on the grass with her. "Hm...kind of…"

Yamiko smiled softly and closed her eyes in contentment.

"OI, FUJISAKI! Wait up!" Gokudera shouted, running up to Fuyuko.

She turned around in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"The other Fujisaki made me come. Her foot's starting to swell pretty badly." He frowned.

Her eyebrows furrowed in worry as she walked into the nurse's office. Shamal wasn't there so she searched through the small refrigerator and took out an ice pack. She rummaged through the cabinets to get some bandages too. "Let's go."

Gokudera followed her out the door. _Good thing that pervert isn't here. Probably off flirting with some more ugly women. At least the Fujisaki siblings don't beg for autographs or whatever the other ugly women do._

They walked out and headed back towards Yamiko. On the way, Fuyuko looked up, staring at the clouds. "That cloud..."

"Hm?"

"Nothing..." she said with a soft smile.

Gokudera blushed faintly at the rare smile and turned away. He turned back, hearing her murmur something.

"_La nostra promessa fatta in una girandole…_" Fuyuko murmured to herslef.

Gokudera almost stopped in his tracks. _She speaks Italian? And…"Our promise made on a pinwheel"? What?_

His thoughts were interrupted by Yamiko's voice cutting though. "Hey, hurry up! My foot's completely swollen!"

"Okay, okay. Be patient." Fuyuko rolled her eyes as she walked up the younger Fujisaki.

"My foot hurts..." Yamiko complained_._

Fuyuko handed her the icepack and started to wrap her ankle with the bandages. "You're such a wimp. Here, ice your ankle."

"Did you see that cloud?" they asked each other simultaneously. They broke off into laughter.

"Sure brings back memories..." Yamiko sighed as Yamamoto and Gokudera looked at them in confusion.

**Flashback**

"Hey, hey~! What's your name?" a five year old Victoria asked excitedly.

A sullen looking face turned towards her. "Tammie…"

"Aww~!" Victoria smiled. "That's so cute! Ok, you're going to be my friend from now on!"

"No," she replied shortly.

Vicky's face fell. "W-why not?"

"Because, you'll just leave me, like Daddy did." Tammie's voice diminished into a whisper and turned away trying to hide her tears.

Victoria tilted her head in thought. "Then I'll give you this!" She held out a bright rainbow colored pinwheel. "And I'll promise on this: I won't ever leave you!"

Tammie stared in awe at the slowly turning pinwheel. She looked up. "Are...you sure?"

Vicky flashed a smile. "Of course!" She held out her pinky.

"O-okay!" Tammie said hesitantly.

They grinned at each other and locked pinkies, speaking simultaneously. "It's a promise then!"

**End of Flashback**

"I was awfully...naive back then, huh." Fuyuko's forehead scrunched up as she commented distastefully.

Yamiko sighed. "Things have changed quite a lot since then."

The girls sat there, reminiscing about their past when the bell rang. The four of them looked up, startled.

"Time for math." Yamamoto was gloomy going to his least favorite subject.

Gokudera sighed in annoyance. "IT'S HISTORY, YAKYUU-BAKA!"

Yamiko laughed and leaned on Fuyuko's shoulder for support as they slowly headed back to class. On the way, they saw the fan-girl that shoved Yamiko earlier. The brunette widened her eyes with guilt when she saw Yamiko's wrapped ankle and the two girls could see the remorse lingering in her eyes.

Yamiko flashed a reassuring smile and mouthed "it's ok" while Fuyuko scowled. The brunette returned Yamiko's smile with a wavering grin and an expression that looked like it was going to collapse any second. The younger girl quickly bowed in apology and fled into her classroom.

Fuyuko was irritated by Yamiko's ever-forgiving attitude. "**You're too soft.**" Fuyuko shifted more of Yamiko's weight onto her shoulder.

Yamiko giggled and they continued their long way back to class.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading dear people.<strong>** You might be slightly confused...let me remind you. Yamiko is Tammie and Fuyuko is Victoria. No, we did not mix them up. Their personalities in the past are like that. Why they changed so much? You will just have to continue to read to find out!**

**Please, please tell us what you think about pairings… It could be anyone from the anime!**

**Don't forget to check out Yukiko's story!**

**Remember, dear readers, you love us which means you'll review which means we get pumped which means furious writing which means faster updates which means love from readers which means you'll review and yeah… you get the point :D** ***pumps fist* Love you all!**

**Till next time, see ya!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here we go!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

School had finally ended and the two girls started to hobble their way home.

"Mou... This is getting really annoying," Yamiko complained when they finally got home. She looked up at Fuyuko pleadingly. "Pleaassseeee can I use _that_?"

Fuyuko turned her head away. "No."

"Hey! It's my foot, why do I need your permission? And why did I ask you in the first place?" Yamiko grumbled while icing her ankle again.

Fuyuko sighed. "Well... I guess it would be a better idea to do _that_ because we have to be on guard at school..."

"Yay~ Could you get my piccolo for me?"

"Hold on." Fuyuko quickly walked through the hallways to get the musical instrument. She went into their bedroom, got the piccolo for Yamiko, and headed back.

The blue-haired girl took a shaky breath and started to play _Morning Song_ again. This time, the glow traveled down to her foot, wrapping it in its warm light.

A pigeon stooped on a fence near the two girls. Its beady black eyes reflected the yellow glow.

All of a sudden, Yamiko stopped playing and fell with a clunk, dropping her piccolo. Her foot was completely normal and perfectly healed. Fuyuko sighed and hauled Yamiko into their room. She got out a futon from the closet and spread it on the floor, settling Yamiko down on it. She walked back outside to retrieve the piccolo and was startled by a weird bird call.

As she turned around, she saw a pigeon that was looking directly at her. "A... fiorentino?" _There aren't supposed to be any __Fiorentino_ _pigeons here._

The girl dismissed the weird pigeon and brought the piccolo back inside the house. She placed Yamiko's treasured instrument next to her and went back outside, relaxing to the sound of the rocking fountain.

Soon night came so she went back inside to check on Yamiko. She found the girl sitting nonchalantly on her futon slurping up cup-noodles.

With a chuckle, Fuyuko went to the kitchen to make dinner. She placed two bowls with rice on the dining table and started to prepare other side dishes. Some fried vegetables, kimchi, and doenjang jjigae (된장 찌개) joined the rice on the table.

"Yamiko! Come into the kitchen if you're still up for some food!"

"Wait for me!" a muffled response answered. Yamiko pattered into the kitchen rolling her ankle to see if it was fully healed. "Yay~ My ankle is all better~"

Fuyuko rolled her eyes. "You still have to limp at school because the people think that you're ankle is still hurt."

Yamiko pouted but then brightened again as she surveyed the dishes on the table. "Heck yes, Korean food! Oh! I know, for tomorrow's lunch and dinner, I'll make you some Chinese food!"

"You know, just because I'm not Chinese doesn't mean I can't make Chinese food."

"But it can't be authentic Chinese food without a Chinese making it~" Yamiko winked.

"Sure," she said sardonically. "You can still eat after that fake, MSG filled, ramen? I swear your stomach is a bottomless pit."

A stream of giggles followed. "Whatever you say~" Yamiko sang. "Itadakimasu!"

After they finished eating dinner, they did their homework and settled for the night.

**Next Morning**

Yamiko got up blearily and started to get ready for school. She headed toward the kitchen where Fuyuko was making breakfast.

"What's for today?" Yamiko collapsed into a chair after washing her hands.

Fuyuko set down a plate of bacon and eggs. "Here, eat."

"Yum! Oh, by the way. What do you want for lunch?"

"I'm fine with buying a sandwich...didn't you want to eat yakisoba bread?"

"Eh, well I haven't cooked anything since we got to Japan."

Fuyuko raised her eyebrows. "And you cooked in America?"

"I did once in a while. Wouldn't you know? Remember that time where I tried to make pancakes?"

"What pancakes? Oh, that scrabbled mess? Sure..."

"HEY. THEY WERE YUMMY. AND FOR THE RECORD, THEY WERE A NEW RECIPE OF MINE. SCRAMBLED PANCAKES!" Yamiko retorted loudly.

"Pffft. You were the only one who ate them. Anyways, I don't need a lunch, I'm going to buy melon bread."

"Melon bread? It tastes like melon?"

"Well they do sell melon flavored but they're called melon bread because it looks like it."

"WAIT. I'M TAKING IT THAT YOU DON'T LIKE MY COOKING."

Fuyuko glanced off to the side guiltily. "...Says who? It's just that...when you cook anything that's not Chinese, pots tend to blow up."

"You read too much manga."

"N-no, you know I'm not joking."

Yamiko pouted. "I'll cook something Chinese for dinner then. Maybe Peking Duck? We need a duck though."

Fuyuko walked off into the hallway. "Yeah, yeah. Do what you want. I'm going to go get ready."

"M'kay." Yamiko mumbled as she continued to eat.

Shortly, they both got ready to leave and headed off to school. As they were walking a pigeon came fluttering towards them. They stopped and the pigeon also stopped, perching on a tree. Then they continued to walk, soon hearing the fluttering of wings; the pigeon had started to fly after them again. Yamiko looked at it strangely. _Why do I feel like it's following us?_

Fuyuko also turned and looked at the pigeon strangely. "Hey Yamiko, don't you think it's strange?"

Yamiko nodded. "It seems like—"

"That's a fiorentino pigeon." Fuyuko informed, cutting in. "It's bred in Italy and is considered a rare type of pigeon. There shouldn't be any here in Japan. I wonder how it flew all the way here."

Yamiko mentally face-palmed. _T-that's what she's concerned about? Not the fact that it seems to be following us? And why does she know so much about them anyways?_

Fuyuko tilted her head in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no nothing." Yamiko sighed, exasperated. _Geez, she can be the sharpest on the most obscure things, yet she's extremely oblivious to certain things._

The pigeon went unnoticed the rest of the way to school.

At the front of the school gates, Fuyuko nudged Yamiko. "**Make sure you have a limp in your step. If you don't, we're screwed.**"

Yamiko nodded, slowed her pace, and faked a limp. After reaching their classroom they settled in their desks, listening to the teacher drone on and on about history. Yamiko turned around, facing the window. Her face stiffened. Their stalker pigeon was staring right at her through the window. Its beady, black eyes seemed to pierce her skin.

She blocked the view with a textbook and slumped in her desk. _WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?_

Seeking for help, Yamiko turned around to talk to Fuyuko, only to find out that she was sleeping. Groaning, she faced the front again.

"Fuyuko-san, what was Japan's capital city in 784?" Kiyomoto-sensei quizzed, oblivious to the fact she was sleeping.

Yamiko groaned inwardly. _This just gets worse and worse._

Fuyuko calmly answered. "Nagaoka."

Yamiko sighed in relief. _Phew she got it right. W-wait wasn't she sleeping? _She quickly turned around and looked strangely at Fuyuko, who appeared to be sleeping. "**Um, Vicky? Are you sleeping?**" she whispered.

"**Mhm. I'm tired. Woke up early today to make breakfast…**" Fuyuko answered, voice slurred.

"**Oh, okay.**" Yamiko said, turning back towards the front. _Wait. How did she answer me if she was sleeping?_ She snapped back with a quizzical look on her face. "**Hey, what's your favorite color?**"

"**Purple and black.**"

Yamiko head-desked. _This girl answers back in her sleep? I didn't know because she always sleeps after me. But this might be interesting since she's sleeping she should answer honestly._

"**What do you hate?**"

"**People and life.**"

Cue second head-desk. _Forget it, since all of her answers are truthful, she's not going to hold back any of her cynical thoughts._

Eventually the lunch bell rang and Yamiko tapped Fuyuko on the head. "Hey, wake up."

Fuyuko mumbled something incomprehensible continued to sleep. Yamiko was about to hit her in the head when a voice called from the door. "Are Yamiko-sempai and Fuyuko-sempai here?"

Everyone in the room turned their heads to the door. It was Yamamoto, Tsuna, and Gokudera. The other girls in the classroom turned to glare at Yamiko. She sweat-dropped. H_ere we go again. More fan-girls to take care of. Wonderful, just what I'd want to spend my lunch doing. _She thought sarcastically. _Geez, these guys even captured the hearts of their upperclassmen? Ah, well excluding Tsuna… Having the lunch with the other two is going to be bothersome. Not to mention Fuyuko's sleeping right now. Guess I'll try to head chop her again._

The guys noticed Yamiko and walked over toward her. She gave them a sheepish smile. "Hi, one second." She promptly turned to Fuyuko and smacked her in the head.

"Ow!" Fuyuko groaned, holding the back of her head. She slowly rose of the table and pouted at Yamiko, "What the heck was that for?"

"I was trying to wake you up, no hidden intentions." She smiled unconvincingly.

"Sure." Fuyuko rolled her eyes. "How long did I sleep?"

"I think you conked off at first period, it's lunch right now."

Fuyuko yawned, stretching. "Good, I'm hungry." She turned to the side noticing the boys for the first time, also noting the evil glares from the girls in the room.

_Crap, mob of PMS-ing bitches coming our way. _She rose, trying to escape. "I'll go buy lunch."

Yamiko grabbed her arm giving her a desperate look.

Fuyuko scowled. "The line's probably long anyways. Let's just skip."

"You guys can share with me! As long as you can eat sushi that is. It's not good to skip lunch." Yamamoto grinned, proudly presenting his lunch.

Yamiko cringed. _Yama-kun...that is definitely not the best thing to say right now. _Gokudera silently twitched in annoyance. The stares the fan-girls were giving them were starting to get creepy.

Fuyuko also noticed the sharp stares. She faced right towards the girls and glared back. "Hi, is it fun staring at us? Or do you plan to talk?"

"You guys should learn your place," one girl hissed.

"Oh wow," Yamiko commented. "Sounds like you have something to say. Amuse me, say something intelligent."

A girl stepped forward. "I don't know how things work over in America, but here we agree to share our school idols. Don't think you can hog them, you're not even part of the fan-club."

Fuyuko sighed. "Ok, ok, forget what she said about talking. It's a waste of time listening to you."

"Besides, did we go find them? Noooo, they came looking for us!" Yamiko countered.

"You bitches!" One particularly ugly girl shrieked. "You think you can make Takeshi-sama and Hayato-sama like you with faces that look like they went through some accident? You've got more chins that a Chinese phonebook!"

Yamiko's smirk faltered for a second but quickly snapped back into place, anger added to it. "Chin? Oh please. Chin isn't even a Chinese last name anymore. It's outdated just like your face. Get your facts straight before you talk. If you're going to be a smart ass, you have to be smart."

"Why you—!"

Fuyuko rolled her eyes. "Let's get on with our lives already. Oh wait, I forgot. You don't have one."

"And you dare to call us bitches? Wow, the kettle calling the pot black. I would slap you, but that would be animal abuse," Yamiko stated coldly. "Let's go to the roof, Fuyuko."

Fuyuko consented and they walked out of the class, heading toward the roof. She looked at Yamiko. "**You're strangely pissed...is it because of what that bitch said? She didn't mean 'accident' like that you know…**"

Yamiko sighed. "**I know, I blew my top unnecessarily.**

Fuyuko responded with silence. _We all have our own troubles._

The guys quickly followed after the two foreign students who had partially ascended the stairs leading to the roof.

Yamamoto called out to them. "Hey, wait up guys!" The girls momentarily stopped, letting the guys catch up. Yamamoto grinned. "Thanks, I don't know why those girls were like that. Strange huh, the sempais are usually nicer. They give me food and stuff!"

Fuyuko quivered in anger. _This guy is oblivious to why we had to go through that? _She turned toward him, twitching in annoyance. _Oh he's dead now._

Yamiko winced, fearing for Yamamoto's life. _I swear I heard her thin line of sanity snap. _

A cold aura seeped out from Fuyuko as she fixed him with a piercing glare. Tsuna started to freak out and even Gokudera backed away, Yamiko silently praying that her sister wasn't going to do something rash. Yamamoto looked around confused to why the others were keeping their distance. Fuyuko took a step forward and opened her mouth, evidently about to beat him to pulp when she was interrupted by the opening of the door at the top of the staircase.

She tilted her head up to see who had interrupted her. Her gaze narrowed as she saw the school's silent prefect striding through the doorway. As he started to descend the stairs, his eyes met hers and lightning flashed in the background. Tsuna paled as Yamiko muttered curses under her breath.

However, much to their surprise, Fuyuko sighed and continued ascending the stairs. As she passed him he swung his tonfa, directly aiming for her head.

She quickly ducked and grinned, seeing the tonfa crash into the wall leaving a huge dent. _Hello, tonfa meet wall, wall meet tonfa. I see you're getting along quite well._

Hibari cursed and spat. "Herbivore, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing." Fuyuko grinned cockily. Yamiko looked up at the scene in surprise. _The line got reattached?_

"Fight me, herbivore."

Fuyuko shot a look at Yamiko who disapprovingly shook her head.

"What for?" Fuyuko shrugged, faking an innocent smile. "After all I'm just a normal weak 'herbivore'."

Yamiko silently scoffed. _There's a good one. Fuyuko, normal, sure._

Fuyuko marched off to the roof, leaving a scowling Hibari standing on the stairs. The rest soon followed after her to the roof.

"**I'm surprised your anger subsided that quickly**." Yamiko said, switching languages.

Fuyuko stared dumbly at the sky.

Yamiko pouted at the lack of response but skipped back over to Yamamoto for more food. Yamiko looked up to the sky to admire the clouds again, her mouth filled with sushi when she noticed a pigeon flying overhead. Their stalker pigeon. She coughed, choking on the sushi. _WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BIRD STILL DOING HERE?_

Fuyuko looked upward, smiling in contentment as she gazed at the clouds; oblivious to the creepy bird. She closed her eyes but they quickly snapped back open as she felt amuderous presence.

Yamiko, also feeling the penetrating presence, scooted over to her and whispered, "**Someone's here.**"

"**Yeah, I noticed**—" Fuyuko said before she was cut off by several daggers whizzing towards the group with insane strength and speed; only a person dealing with the mafia could have thrown it.

Yamiko skillfully deflected several daggers with her piccolo, careful not to damage the specially made instrument. Since last night, she decided it was safest to strap it to her leg to carry it around with her wherever the two decided to go.

Fuyuko also instantly reacted, grabbing a dagger safely by the hilt and then used it to deflect others. The guys who were facing the opposite direction were still oblivious to what was going on and kept on talking amongst themselves. The murderous intent quickly disappeared.

Fuyuko's eyes narrowed as she studied the dagger. "**Yamiko, this...**"

"**Probably the enemy.**" Yamiko nodded.

"**No, I meant this dagger is skillfully made!**" Fuyuko exclaimed. "**It's extremely sharp, amazing. I'm keeping these.**" She picked the daggers up from the floor and started to put them away, hiding them almost miraculously in her clothes, before the guys could look over and see them.

Yamiko, like she always does, mentally face-palmed. _I swear there's something wrong with her brain. Why in the world does she have an obsession with weapons? _

"**Well, no but on a more serious note,**" Fuyuko added, "**The emblem carved on these daggers, it's the Eramo Family. Finally attacking huh, took their sweet time. I was getting bored from pretending to be normal girl."**

Yamiko nodded. _Well you sure didn't do a convincing job with that._ She also noticed the beautiful lotus flower pictured in the middle of the complicated emblem.

"**W****e have to watch out now,**" Yamiko said gravely. "**This might start to get messy.**"

Fuyuko smirked. "**Good, I hate bloodless battles.**"

Yamiko chuckled. "**That's freaky you know.**"

Fuyuko faced the direction the presence had appeared and disappeared from. "**Bring it, Eramo.**"

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><p><strong>Eramo family finally coming into play~ It's been a while since they were mentioned.<strong>

**CLARIFICATION TIME. About the 'Chin' thing. Chin used to be a Chinese last name, but it's not anymore^^ (at least that's what my mom and dad said -_-) **

**More into Fuyuko, she knows a lot about weird things. She is a 'monoshiri' meaning she knows a lot. Kind of like Miyuki from Lucky Star. I like using Japanese words.^^ She's the kind of person that wouldn't give a damn about things she doesn't care about but if something interests her, she'll find out every little thing about it. Like weapons, she's a weapons freak. And a culture freak. But I wouldn't call her a nerd; she's too cool for that. :D**

**And about Yamiko and that 'word'. You probably won't understand why she seemed pissed now, but later, you'll come be like 'OOOHHHH' :D. We have a lot planned out so we try to hint at things earlier. Yamiko is a very bubbly person that isn't usually calm unless it has to do with Fuyuko. Yamiko is more of the funny person while Fuyuko is the straight (wo)man. Keep reading everyone and please review!**

**Let's root for the GAAYS ;D**


	7. Chapter 7

**You guys are in for a treat! This is our longest chapter yet. :D**

**I know I'm like… two days late. I'M SORRY PEOPLE. IT'S BECAUSE MY PARENTS PUT STUPID PARENTAL CONTROLS ON MY COMPUTER SO I CAN'T EVEN GO ON FANFICTION ANYMORE. BUT NO WORRIES. I CAN STILL GO ON MY FRIEND'S COMPUTER TO UPLOAD. SO WITH THAT—**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

Throughout the rest of the lunch, the two girls remained alert and exchanged uneasy glances from time to time. They kept alert, ready to fight at any moment, like coiled springs. Nothing happened however, with the exception of their stalker pigeon continuously gazing at them. Lunch ended and after a few hours, school was also over. The five of them started making their way home, Yamiko continued faked her limp as she said bye to the guys at the front entrance.

"You know..." Yamiko smiled. "Whenever I look at this house I always feel so blessed that Iemitsu found us back when we were tiny."

Fuyuko smiled in agreement and opened gate that led to the garden.

The weird pigeon went unnoticed as it perched on a sakura tree. Deciding it was finally time to start some action, it swooped through the garden, dangerously close to Fuyuko's head.

Fuyuko was unlocking the front door when the pigeon decided to take care of its business on her head. Or in other words, poop on her.

She shrieked in surprise as a white substance dribbled down her forehead. A murderous aura developed around her as she pulled out a sharp kunai. She swung around towards the pigeon that was now innocently sitting on a decorative rock. The pigeon cooed and ruffled its wings, staring at her with blank, unnerving eyes.

Yamiko gulped. _Poor pigeon._

Fuyuko's eyes glinted and she threw the kunai, hitting the pigeon squarely in its small chest. Only a little bit of blood spurted out, it was a neat hit and the bird simply fell to the ground. Fuyuko's face stretched into a creepy smile paired with a satisfied look. She went up to the bird, pulling out her kunai.

"Yamiko, do something with this thing or it's going to rot." She poked the lifeless being with the kunai. "Oh wait...there's something on its leg..."

Yamiko also went up staring at the dead creature. "You're right." She picked up the lifeless being and looked carefully at the leg. Attached to the leg was a small metal cylinder. She pulled it off of the pigeon's leg and noticed a lid. She opened and turned it over. A small memory chip tumbled out. They stared at it dumbly for a while until Fuyuko finally picked it up.

"Let me take a shower and then I'll investigate this. Do something about that bird and make dinner too," Fuyuko said as she walked tiredly into the house.

Yamiko looked into the pigeon's dead, void eyes. "Hello, stalker pigeon. What should I do with you?" She pondered her options and she struck gold. "It's my turn to make dinner tonight! Let's make you useful~!"

And with that she cheerfully carried the bird into the kitchen.

About half an hour later, Fuyuko walked into the dining room, her long hair slightly wet. "Turns out that the chip and pigeon were sent from Iemitsu...it was a video." Her eye twitched in annoyance. "Geez, if you're going to send a carrier pigeon, use a letter or something? Stick to one generation of technology—" She noticed the dinner sitting on the table. "—Is that...Peking duck?"

Yamiko shrugged. "I _had_ to do _something_ with the poor bird."

"What poor bird? That's what it gets for pooping on my hair. Your food smells good though," Fuyuko admitted, sniffing the mouthwatering aroma. "You have Basil's number right? Can I borrow your phone?"

"Eh? Why?" Yamiko asked, putting down two bowls of "duck" broth on the table. She walked back into the kitchen and brought back stir-fried bok choy and a platter of ma po tofu.

"I don't know how else to contact Iemitsu. He said to send the pigeon back but—" She looked down at the cooked bird. "I'd say it's too late for that and he doesn't have a cell phone. I would call the CEDEF headquarters in America but I think they went back to Italy and I don't know the number."

Yamiko sat down and pulled out her phone, handing it to Fuyuko. "You didn't have to go so in detail. Anyways, what did he say in the video?"

"Not much. 'How do you like your new home? How's my son?' Blah blah blah." Fuyuko rolled her eyes while scrolling through the contacts on the phone. She pressed the dial button and waited impatiently as the phone rang. No one picked up. She started to glare at the phone and Yamiko gave her a weird look.

"You know, sending hate vibes at the phone isn't going to make him pick up."

"But it's your phone and your number! He should pick up!" Fuyuko complained.

Yamiko tilted her head in confusion. "What does that have anything to do with that? Anyways, I'm eating."

Staring grumpily at the phone, Fuyuko dialed again. _Geez, the reason I'm using Yamiko's phone is so he would pick up. If it was from my phone he'd just ignore it._

After a couple rings, an overly excited voice spoke from the other side. "Hello? Tammie?"

"Guess again," Fuyuko said blandly.

Far across the seas in Italy, Basil sweat-dropped. "A-ah...hi Victoria."

"I sense disappointment," Fuyuko said crossly. "Whatever, pass the phone to Iemitsu, will you?"

She waited through a moment of silence and a new voice spoke, "Hey Vicky!"

"Hi." Fuyuko absentmindedly poked the pigeon with her chopsticks. "I'm hungry so I'll make this quick. Don't send more pigeons, I'll kill you. You have computers, so _use them_. Also, we got attacked by the Eramo today, it seems like they've finally started to close in on us."

Iemitsu's voice became serious. "I see, well take care and make sure to protect Tsuna. Also, send me my pigeon back."

Fuyuko looked guiltily at her dinner. "Er, it's kind of...cooked. IT'S NOT MY FAULT. I PROMISE."

"Eh? M-my pigeon? My specially bred pigeon?" Iemitsu's voice raised a couple octaves higher.

Fuyuko held the phone away from her ear. "Anyways, bye." She quickly hung up.

Yamiko stuck her tongue out at her. "Technically this _is_ your fault."

Fuyuko rolled her eyes and added on a more serious note. "We should probably go stake out at Tsuna's house tonight. I have a bad feeling about what's going to come next."

The other girl's eyes sparkled with an unidentifiable glint. "It's been a while since we actually fought seriously."

Fuyuko smirked. "Hope you haven't gotten soft."

"Well, no. But I was never one for gory endings."

They quickly finished their unique meal and made their way back to their bedroom. They took out the scroll and entered the secret room that was below their house to get ready for their predicted battle.

Yamiko chose her trademark traditional Kung Fu uniform made out of fine, white silk. The top was short sleeved, had a collar up to the middle of her neck, and reached right above her knees. A dark blue cloud design swirled from her hip up to her right shoulder. She buttoned up the Chinese buttons that curved from her shoulder down under her left arm. Her pants, too, were made out of the same material and matched the cloud design that swirled from her right ankle up to her knee. She firmly knotted a silk blue belt into place above her hip. Yamiko braided her sky blue bangs to one side and held it with pins to keep her hair out of her face. She put the rest of her hair on the sides of her head in two small, braided buns. She went over to the weapon racks to find the traditional Chinese straight sword she always used. It was protected by its custom-made sheath which she secured to her waist with her belt. The red tassel danced around at the bottom of her sword. She strapped her piccolo and pouch of senbons on her right leg, hiding them under her top.

Fuyuko wore black shorts that were easy to move around in. On top she wore a large, loose, short sleeve shirt that was a drab beige color. At the end of the short sleeves were buckles which attached to a pair of arm warmers that were loose and flowing at the hands. She also slid on a loose collar, which covered her neck and part of her face, and was attached to the shirt with more buckles. Using a hair tie she put her long hair up in a high ponytail. She then wrapped it into a bun, securing that with a sharp tipped hair stick, ornamental and dangerous. She grabbed a small pouch, filled it with kunais and shurikens, and strapped it onto her leg for easy access. After pocketing two of the ninja variation of a trench knife and a kusarigama, she pulled on two black arm guards that had a plate of hard metal. They were hidden under her arm warmers along with other various small weapons placed strategically around her clothes.

"What's with all of the weapons?" Yamiko sighed with exasperation. "We're only there for protecting. Are you ready to kill someone?"

"What fun is a battle without a few deaths? Plus, I think I may have gotten rusty so I need to renew my sadism. Ready to go?"

"Wait, one second." Yamiko turned to get her white mask with swirly blue patterns on it. "You should cover your face more."

"Already on it," Fuyuko replied, grabbing a black, ninja-like mask that covered all of her face below her eyes. She pulled it down, letting it hang on her neck.

Fuyuko tsk-ed. "Your clothes really stand out. No camouflage."

"It's tradition. I am Chinese after all. Besides, where did you get your clothes?" Yamiko huffed.

"I personally asked Iemitsu order them. Blends in well with surroundings and it's easy to hide weapons in."

"Figures." Yamiko sighed as she walked out to the front door.

"You have your ring?" Fuyuko asked as she slid on hers.

"Yup!" Yamiko's ring winked in the moonlight.

She slipped on a pair of white Kung Fu shoes and waited as Fuyuko pulled on black converse sneakers. Soon they left, running with incredible speed towards Tsuna's house. When they arrived they hid themselves in the trees, keeping a careful watch on the house.

At that time, inside Tsuna's house, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Reborn were doing homework in Tsuna's room. Reborn looked sharply out the window as he felt the girls' presences. _Keeping watch, huh, but I doubt at how reliable they could be. They're just two teen girls after all._

Outside, Fuyuko formed a scowl.

Yamiko whispered. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Fuyuko said sullenly. "I just had the distinct feeling someone was looking down on us."

"Focus, you idiot," Yamiko reprimanded. "You don't know when we'll be—" She paused, her eyes narrowing "—attacked. You feel it, Fuyuko, this murderous intent..." She glanced around and spotted several men clad in black, stealthily approaching Tsuna's house.

Fuyuko smirked, sliding back further into the foliage to hide herself. She pulled her mask up. "Definitely, it's making my blood stir. Happy hunting!" She sunk further into the bushes, completely disappearing. Moments later a slight groan was heard. Yamiko peered out to see one of the men grasping his arm where a kunai was embedded.

After putting her mask on, Yamiko slid down from the tree, careful to be unnoticed. She moved cunningly so she was positioned behind the group of people.

"Someone's here. Watch out…" One of the men looked around cautiously.

Fuyuko appeared from the shadows, startling the men. Her black mask was covering most of her face, so her sly grin was not visible. "Watch out? Even if you watch out you won't escape my attacks."

A large man chuckled. "What's this, a kid? And a girl at that? Oh how scary, the seven of us are trembling with fear."

Yamiko stifled a laugh. _Information obtained. So there are seven of them, huh. I only see four down there so we should be careful, they might be hiding somewhere else._

Fuyuko didn't respond to the man's taunts and pulled out another kunai, aiming it toward the four.

The one that had gotten hit smiled, pulling out the previous kunai. "You think that little single blade can stop the four of us, little darling?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Who said it was just one?" And she threw the blade, muttering under her breath, "Don't underestimate cloud flame users, you bastards." The kunai and her ring lit with purple flames and multiplied at an incredible speed.

"The propagation property of cloud!" said the big man as he was stabbed by numerous blades. He cursed and pulled some out before making a lunge toward Fuyuko. "Don't under estimate me, Note A, of the C Major Squad, little girl!" 'Note A' grabbed her arm roughly and twisted it behind her back.

Yamiko, watching all of this, almost laughed out loud. _C MAJOR SQUAD? That's so retarded._ She clicked her tongue. _Fuyuko shouldn't be caught to easily. She must have something up her sleeve. But I guess this is my turn then!_ She pulled out her piccolo and placed it gently against her lip. After taking a breath of air she blew, letting out a faint but sharp sound. The other three looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the noise. They were greeted by red storm covered wind blades, dancing to the melody of Yamiko's music. They winced in pain as the blades left shallow, but numerous, cuts. Fuyuko smirked under her mask as her partner's blades flew past her. The music momentarily stopped and the wind blades disappeared.

She stepped out from her hiding position, revealing herself the group.

One of the men spat out blood. _Crap, another flame user and it looks like storm…_ "Another brat? Don't defy me. After all, I am Note B." _How did she create flames out of that petty little instrument…?_

"In case you're wondering, I had Talbot make this piccolo for me." Yamiko seemed to read the Note's mind.

Yamiko grinned although hidden by her mask, sliding her long straight sword out of its sheath. The cold metal twinkled evilly. "Nice meeting you, gentlemen. I'd like to caution the big one over there holding my friend; she doesn't like being restrained."

Note A, holding Fuyuko, snickered. "So?"

"Oh yes," Yamiko added. "She's also extremely flexible."

Fuyuko's eyes glinted as she slyly pulled out a trench knife with her other hand. She twisted the arm that was being held to rotate around her shoulder, something only someone with joint hypermobility could do, letting her move. Note A's eyes widened as she stabbed him with the knife in the abdomen. She wrenched her arm from his grip and kicked him in the head.

Yamiko laughed. "I warned you." She then charged towards the group of three.

"Don't underestimate us, Note C, B, and D, just because you can pull a few tricks, china girl."

"I'm glad you recognize my home country," she said stoically and swung her sword.

Note C moved backwards, dodging it narrowly. She crouched down, performing a low spinning sweep kick, causing him to lose balance. She used the moment to use her senbons, stabbing him in certain pressure points. He fell to the floor, paralyzed, and she cleanly slit his throat. _Note C is down. Now, A, B, D, E, F, and G are left. They all should be named the notes of "C Major" scale…_

But she winced in pain, turning around to see her back stabbed with a dagger. It had the same emblem as the one that was thrown at them during school. "So you're the person from before."

"And you're the ones that deflected my daggers. I was quite surprised," Note B said as he twirled another dagger with his fingers. "But you're still too weak." He raised his hand, about to stab her once more when she twirled around, blocking it with a spinning crescent kick.

He continued to talk. "That other girl will soon be taken care of too."

"She isn't one to be taken lightly. And neither am I. Besides, she's the greatest sadist I know, I feel sorry for Note A."

Note B just chuckled and shook his head. "Already unaware, blame your little experience; you didn't even notice someone coming up from behind you."

Yamiko's eyes narrowed; she had already felt another presence behind her. It was Note D. Note B waited for her face to distort with fear, but it never came. Instead she started to crack up. "I told you didn't I? Not to underestimate us." _Little experience? Hah. Bullshit._

His eyes widened as he tried to call out a warning to Note D but was interrupted by his friend's death. Note D collapsed to the ground as Fuyuko pulled the kusarigama's blade out of his chest.

She grinned, "Surprise~"

"But—" Note B said in alarm, looking over to where the big man used to be. Even as a professional killer, he paled at what he saw. Being an assassin, he always gave his victims a quick, clean death but this was perturbing. The man, Note A, was lying on the ground, in a weird unnatural position. His head was bashed in and was impaled with a horrific number of kunais.

Yamiko laughed and shook her head. "You're always the showy one when it comes to killing."

"I like making cacti." Fuyuko smiled. Her clothes and face were splattered with blood. She was holding her scythe, now bloody with the third man's blood. "But he was pretty strong."

Yamiko started to lightly tend to Fuyuko's bleeding arm. "Okay, you guys said there was seven...three are dead. So four are left! Now I wonder where the other three are, huh?" Yamiko asked innocently.

Fuyuko held her kusarigama up, advancing toward him. "Spill or your guts will."

Note B laughed maniacally. "So you've defeated a few people, don't get so cocky!" He grinned slyly and in that instant a bullet came whizzing toward them from nowhere.

Fuyuko cursed as the bullet embedded itself in her left leg. Another bullet came flying, getting Yamiko in the right arm.

"Hey! That was my dominant arm, too!" Yamiko pouted, feeling little pain. Note B and Fuyuko saw that she had already pressed certain points along her neck to diminish the pain. _Geh, it's going to be harder to use my sword now. Oh well, it's a good thing that I practiced using my left arm._ She stuck it in the ground near her and unstrapped her sheath.

Fuyuko moved away in front of a tree. Yamiko's eyebrows rose. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, duh. Avoiding range of sniper fire," Fuyuko said.

Yamiko glanced at Note B, wary. "How do you know?"

"Raw calculations, wind levels, estimations, approximations," Fuyuko mumbled.

Yamiko paused for a few moments. "Stop trying to sound so smart. None of that makes sense."

"Shut up!" Fuyuko complained. "It's good enough."

Note B his chance to stab Fuyuko, but she blocked him with her arm. He looked confused at how her arms could stop metal, when he noticed underneath her arm warmers, she had guards on.

"Ah, good thing I put this on," she said, letting out a breath of relief.

Yamiko clicked her tongue again. "Now who's letting their guard down?" She threw a needle towards Note B. "See you in hell."

Fuyuko read her partner's movements and lent a hand by multiplying the needle to hit the right spots. "Yes~! More cacti!"

In a heartbeat, Note B was lying, motionless on the floor and Yamiko cleaned off the blade of her sword, hiding behind the tree with Fuyuko. She adjusted her mask that was slightly out of place

Meanwhile, inside the house Tsuna looked toward the window. "Hey, did you guys hear a shout?"

"Now that you mention it, it has been pretty noisy outside." Yamamoto agreed.

Gokudera rose to his feet. "I shall go investigate, Juudaime!"

Reborn jumped on top of him and shoved him back down. "It's nothing. Finish your homework, everyone."

Tsuna grumbled but obliged, staring dumbly back at his textbook. "AUGH! I don't get it!"

"No excuses, Dame-Tsuna!" Reborn said as he glanced at the window. _More presences had appeared but it seems like they disappeared. What's going on outside. Those girls better not have died._

Outside, Yamiko peered out from behind the tree. "He's not shooting."

"Because we're hiding." Fuyuko inferred. "So, how to sniff this sniper out..." She glanced at Yamiko's piccolo, deep in thought. "Hey, play your piccolo."

"Eh? But I don't know where the other Notes are." She glanced around in confusion.

Fuyuko put her scythe away and pulled out some shurikens. "I'm not sure if this will work, but we both have a pretty good ear for music. We might be able to figure out by the disturbances of the pitches."

"Like...bats?" Yamiko questioned.

Fuyuko made a face. "Well, yes. But I don't quite like it when you put it that way. Anyways start playing."

She nodded and started to play a straight note, ironically a concert C pitch. Fuyuko closed her eyes, listening attentively. Yamiko turned slowly, changing directions of her sound. She stopped playing, looking for answers from Fuyuko.

"Eh, it didn't work. Like I thought, I'm not a bat. I do have a plan but it's really iffy. It might be a big risk." Fuyuko bit her lip, considering. "Ok, when I tell you to, start running down the road as fast as you can. Run in zigzags, not a straight line. You might get hit."

Yamiko looked worried. "Er, by bullets?"

"No, by fluffy marshmallows," Fuyuko said sarcastically but switched to a more serious tone. "Trust me on this one. Ready?"

"I...guess?" Yamiko hesitated.

Fuyuko nodded. "Now!" Yamiko sprinted out from behind the tree, and ran like the wind. Soon bullets started flying after her. Fuyuko narrowed her eyes. _I have to hurry. _She pulled out her shurikens and closed her eyes, searching for a presence. _Stay calm, Vicky. Right now the sniper is trying to kill Yamiko. There must be a murderous presence somewhere. Find it. Find it. FOUND IT!_

Yamiko winced as a bullet grazed by her side but kept her pace and irregular shift of direction. _Left, right, right, left, right, left, left, left, right._

Fuyuko ran, leg throbbing in pain, as she jumped onto Tsuna's roof. She jumped from roof to roof until she saw a long barrel. _Oh, you're so dead._ She threw her shuriken, hitting the gunner who looked at her in surprise. Grabbing him by his arm, she threw him down from the roof to the ground, guaranteeing instant death. She grinned in satisfaction as she heard the sound of bones crunching. _Good thing I took a year of judo._

She nimbly jumped down and limped her way back to Yamiko who was leaning against a lamppost, trying to catch her breath. She was clutching her arm, although in no pain, trying to stop the blood flow.

"Over?" Yamiko panted.

Fuyuko gave her a thumbs-up. "Dead. But we have to watch out. There should still be two more."

They took this time to analyze their injuries. Yamiko had a dagger wound on her back and two bullet wounds, one on her arm and the other which had scraped by her side. Fuyuko was in no better condition. Her arm was slightly sprained, and the other was cut deeply. She had a bullet wound on her left leg, causing her to limp.

Yamiko quickly drove a couple of needles into a pattern in Fuyuko's back to lessen her pain.

They both glanced warily around, keeping up their guards. Holding in the pain, they quickly made their way back near Tsuna's house.

"Where do you think they are?" Yamiko asked in a hushed voice looking carefully around her.

"I'm not sure—" Fuyuko stopped in the middle of her words, her face stiffening.

"Hm?" Yamiko started to turn towards Fuyuko. "What's wro—" Her face froze in fear as she looked at Fuyuko.

Yamiko stared in horror, seeing Fuyuko's shoulder penetrated by a long spear. There was no one the other end of the weapon.

"Shut up, dummy. They'll hear us." Fuyuko scolded, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. She grimaced in pain and reached her other arm back, pulling out the spear with great difficulty. Blood started to pour out slowly as Fuyuko dropped the spear on the floor, holding her hand to her hurt shoulder.

"What's going on?" Yamiko said, her voice rising.

Fuyuko shook her head in confusion. "I was stabbed by a floating spear. Floating. How is this possible?" She glanced toward Yamiko and widened her eyes. "Move Yamiko!"

Yamiko swung around in confusion, only to be struck by a large metal floating bat. She flew back a few feet and leaned forward, coughing up blood. She felt her ribs and winced. _Some feel broken._ The bat rose again and tried to strike Yamiko the head to knock her unconscious. She tilted back in surprise. Her mask was cracked on the left side of her chin. It crumbled and uncovered her mouth. _Darn...I liked this mask..._

Fuyuko looked at the floating baseball bat and grit her teeth. _What the fuck is going on here? _It started to advance toward her, menacingly swinging wildly. She ducked and kicked it away. The bat flew away but stopped and fell to the floor all of a sudden, as if it had hit something. However, Fuyuko could see nothing there.

A groan was heard, coming from where the bat had fallen. Yamiko looked bewildered and stepped forward to Fuyuko.

Fuyuko also had a similar reaction before she realized what was going on. _This is a stretch. But invisible assassins?_ "Yamiko!" she shouted, calling out to her sister that was currently making her way towards her. "SIX O'CLOCK! KICK!"

Yamiko's faced flickered with brief confusion but did as she was told. Her eyes widened in surprise as her foot made contact with something. "Wha?"

_Unbelievable. This isn't good. _"Keep attacking there!" Fuyuko commanded, continuing to hold her bleeding shoulder as she tried to bind it with some cloth she tore off of her shirt.

Yamiko grimaced in pain from her broken ribs but kept kicking, starting to understand what was going on. Once again, she made contact with something and it flickered, revealing the shape of a tall man for a few seconds. As fast as it had appeared, it disappeared again.

Yamiko thrust out her fist, but it was stopped, caught by something. She smiled. "Oh, now I get it. But you're holding me now, I know where you are."

She twisted her arm around and thrust her foot out to kick the man squarely in the chest. He flickered again. Darting her hand near the tree, she reached out to grab her sword sitting in the dirt. With some struggle, she swung her sword in an arc managing to slice the man that was holding her. He started flickering like crazy but it stopped, fully revealing the man. His chest was bleeding and his nose was bent at an awkward angle. He wore a green body suit with weird things attached to it.

"So your invisibility is are gone now?" she said smartly, strapping on her sheath and protecting her sword once again.

Fuyuko sighed in relief. _Invisibility suits? This could be troublesome. At least the mystery is solved. _She walked towards Yamiko. "Careful, there should be another one. Let's beat this one up first"

The man who used to be invisible chuckled. "Hah, don't underestimate me. Even though I might have lost my advantage, you still won't be able to beat me. After all, I am Note F, the strongest in the group."

"Note this, note that. Aren't you guys embarrassed? C Major Scale? How lame can you get?" Fuyuko taunted.

"I wouldn't get so smart mouthed, little girl. I wonder how long you can stand with all that blood pouring out."

"Bastard," Fuyuko spat out. _Why is everyone calling me a little girl today? But what he said is true, considering the amount of blood I'm losing right now; we have to finish this quickly. _She glanced over at Yamiko who tried to look okay. It was evident though that she was in a great deal of pain, even with the acupuncture she had done to herself. _Yamiko seems like she has a few ribs broken as well. And her wrist doesn't look too good either. _

"We better start fighting far range. These people are probably as strong as they say they are." Fuyuko muttered softly to Yamiko, glaring at the Note F.

Yamiko groaned but agreed. They separated from each other, sliding back. Note F grinned. "You think I'll let you escape that easily?"

Yamiko ignored him and started to play her piccolo. A quick, sharp tune shrilled out of the instrument. Her dark red storm sped up with the melody. The blades became smaller and stronger. Yamiko tightened her control to focus on Note F, pinning him down with a fury of blades. Her eyebrows creased together and the red blades cut deeper into Note F's skin.

"AGH! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Note F stumbled around blindly, trying to evade the whirlwind. "STORM FLAMES?"

Ignoring her aching lungs and numbing fingers, Yamiko continued play. She changed her melody to sharper tones. Each sharp note resulted in a single crescent shaped blade, tearing Note F apart.

Note F smirked through his pain, his suit bloodied. "I don't come to battles unprepared." He flicked his wrist and a knife caught Yamiko dangerously close to her heart. She flew back against the floor, piccolo rolling out of her now limp hand. Her silk clothes were now stained heavily with what seemed like a never-ending flow of blood.

"Ha. That's what happens when storm flame users are the center of attack."

He turned back to a horrified Fuyuko and approached her, ready to fight. His ankle was suddenly grabbed by something.

"Who said I was dead?" Yamiko laughed and gazed at the sky, eyes glazed over fighting unconsciousness.

Note F's eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT? I THOUGHT I KILLED YOU!"

Yamiko coughed up some blood and tore the knife out of her chest. "I'm just taking a rest."

"HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME!" he shouted, enraged.

Yamiko got up on one knee and unsheathed her sword. "Let's dance—" She grinned maniacally and swept her hair to the side. "—shall we?"

In the meantime, Fuyuko moved back into the shadows. She moved carefully, hiding her presence. _Dammit! My blood is giving me away._ She lightly stumbled and her vision started to blur but she commanded herself to focus. _STAND. You stupid idiot, if you faint on a battlefield you and your comrades die! Concentrate! _

She took out her shuriken, the last one she had left. _Great, now I just need to find the invisible man. Easy. He's invisible after all. I hate life. _She glanced around, careful to not leave any openings. _Now, how are you supposed to find someone you can't see? SHIT, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE._

"Having trouble?" a voice spoke, snickering.

Fuyuko turned and backed away from the voice. _Found him...or more like...he found me._ She closed her eyes. _Rely on my instincts, my blood thirst; it should lead me to him._ She took a large breath of air.

The voice called out again, taunting her. "Do you really think you can find me in this darkness? Give up—" he spoke nearing her. He swung his arm back getting ready to hit her. "—and DIE!"

Eyes still closed, Fuyuko stood still, waiting. He swung his fist and grinned. The grin was not to last long though; his punch was stopped midway. He stared at the girl who seemed to had barely moved, only to have lifted her hand to stop the blow as if she knew directly where he was. Her eyes then opened and he shivered in the cold night air, staring into her blank, void eyes.

Yamiko, still preoccupied by Note F, looked over to Fuyuko whose eyes were emptied out of emotion. _She's released it, her sanity. To be able to fight someone who's invisible she's thrown away her barriers, her mind. Right now Fuyuko is purely moving on her battle instincts. Normally, even as sadistic as she is, she would fight with control. But now...she's nothing more than a killing puppet moving only by the strings of her own blood thirst. I hope she's able to hold those strings tight._

She turned back to Note F and grimaced. _I should keep a careful watch on Fuyuko to stop her, but right now..._ She eyed him carefully. _I have my own battle to fight._

Yamiko twirled her sword in her left hand. _Hello, Mr. F. Sorry, but I still have some tricks up my sleeves. And sorry Mr. G, you're going to have to hang in there and wait for me to save you from that scary sadist._

Yamiko closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She tightened her grip on her beloved sword and suddenly, the tassel burst into red flames. From the hilt up, a stream of storm flames spiraled around the blade. She flicked her wrist and her sword spun in a circle, flames trailing behind it glinting in the moonlight. Her ring blazed with bright red flames.

"I see. Perhaps, you are not as weak as I thought you were," Note F said with surprise.

"Let me skewer that into your brain for you." Yamiko scowled and got into an offensive stance.

Note F brought out a gun and pointed it towards her. "Using a sword against a gun? How foolish of you." He aimed for her head and pulled the trigger, sending the bullet flying.

Yamiko instantly reacted, moving her sword to block the bullet. The wind-like storm blades swirling around the sword and deflected it, surprising Note F. She dashed toward him while swinging the sword. He got a slight cut by the blade, but flew back due to the impact from the flames. He clutched his bleeding side and menacingly lifted his gun shooting off several rounds. Yamiko twirled her sword in a circle making a ring of flames that countered the bullets.

She grinned. "What were you saying about a sword being ineffective against a gun?"

She flicked her wrist once again in a different pattern and the swirl of flames condensed to the tip of her sword. She darted towards him and did a series of slashes and swings. Note F was left bleeding to no end. The grass started to stain a murky red color. C Major Squad's 'strongest member' was officially dead.

Yamiko sighed and went over on Fuyuko's side, where a fierce battle raged. To an outsider the whole fight would have looked funny: a girl brandishing a shuriken in one hand and punching thin air with the other. With dull eyes she ducked and kicked, every once in a while seeing a flicker. She delivered a sharp up kick, breaking the green suit. He became visible now but Fuyuko took no notice and continued to attack him.

He desperately tried to block the attacks and jumped backwards. "Little brats! I'm C Squad's leader, Note G! Don't think your petty little tricks will work on me!"

It had no effect on Fuyuko who mercilessly threw the shuriken, using her cloud flames to multiply it. He tried his best to block most of them but was impaled by a few. Without hesitation she jumped towards him, sending him back with a flying kick. She pulled out the kusarigama she had tucked away, holding the handle with one hand and swinging the end of the chain around dangerously. Once again, she rushed towards him. He pulled out a knife and got ready to stab her but she swung the chain, hitting him on the bridge of his nose.

He reached to feel his shattered nose and cursed. "You little bitch!" He lunged towards her, stabbing her in the stomach. He grinned and looked up to her face expecting to see fear and pain. All he saw was the same blank expression.

Yamiko grimaced from a distance away._ Shit. __She's too far into her maniac session. She can't even feel pain in this state._

Fuyuko grabbed his hand that was holding the knife embedded in her stomach, not letting him move. She swung her other arm, holding the kusarigama, towards his back as he grunted in pain. She pulled it out and repeated the process, leaving bleeding holes in his back. Note G wrenched free from her tight grip and groaned in pain. Fuyuko swung back and forth on her feet, dizzy from the loss of blood, yet she started to run to him again. Note G, in a last attempt to fulfill his mission, threw a grenade towards Tsuna's room's window.

Yamiko looked at the grenade sailing through in the air in panic. She quickly unstrapped her piccolo and twirled it up into the air like a baton. Her piccolo hit the grenade and the explosive flew into the sky. It blew up high in the sky giving off a large explosion. Yamiko cursed under her breath as she caught the falling piccolo. _Fuck, with a large explosion like that people are going to wonder what's going on. Not good, what do we do with all these dead bodies. _

Fuyuko grabbed the man by his hair and pulled out the pointy hair stick, releasing her bun into a high ponytail. Fear was written in Note G's eyes as she raised it preparing to end the man's life.

_Crap! _Yamiko looked towards Fuyuko who was about to kill the leader of the C Squad. "**Vicky!** **Stop! Please! **_**STOP IT!**_" Tears started to stream down her face. "**This isn't what we were trained to do! WE TRAINED TO PROTECT OTHERS! NOT TO BECOME **_**MURDERERS**_**! WE HAVE TO KNOW OUR RESPONSIBILITY."**

Fuyuko stopped suddenly, the deathly sharp hair stick centimeters away from Note G's neck. Her dull eyes started to regain its garnet hue and she looked down at the fear stricken man. She dropped her weapon and it fell to the floor with a clatter. Note G fainted from exhaustion and fear. Feeling extremely faint from all the blood she lost already, she didn't dare to pull out the knife in her stomach; even more blood would pour out.

She fell to her knees, the world spinning around her as she stared at her blood covered hands. "Ah."

Yamiko rushed over towards her, gently hitting her on the head. Her tears slowly diminished. "What the heck, Fuyuko! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry." Fuyuko muttered and leaned into Yamiko. "I guess I kind of lost control?"

"Kind of? You are so insane. Why did you let go of your mind? Anyways that bomb should have a lot of noise, we need to hurry and leave." Yamiko panicked. Fuyuko got weakly to her feet and stared at Tsuna's the devil crept out of his home again, this time never to go back.

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><p><strong>I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Our word count is at 6,670 not counting any AN's.**

**R&R**


	8. Chapter 8

**Next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<br>**

In front of the door, Tsuna and company stared with horrified looks. They had come outside to investigate the large explosion. Yamiko, though masked, knew she was revealed due her unique hair color. They stared at them in shock, looking around at all the dead bodies. Reborn's face darkened. _I deeply underestimated them. What a gruesome scene…_

"Since when were you guys standing there?" Yamiko asked quietly, gripping her aching side.

The boys, pale-faced, couldn't answer so Reborn did. "A little after the explosion and screaming. For now, come in, people are going to come to see what that noise was."

Yamamoto's eyes were huge as he looked at the girls' injuries. The corner of Yamiko's mask was crumbling and her arm and side was bleeding because of a gunshot. A couple of ribs were broken and she had a bleeding wound on her back from a dagger. Her chest was stained with a dark red color from a knife that was thrown dangerously close to her heart.

Fuyuko also fared a lot of damage, her shoulder and stomach being the most significant. She was losing a lot of blood and in a great deal of pain due to the knife still stuck in her stomach. One arm was bleeding and the other was slightly twisted. She had also gotten hit by the sniper but in the leg. Her clothes were all bloody from both her own and the enemies.

"But—" Fuyuko spoke, a stream of blood trickled down her chin. "The bodies."

"Leave them. I'll take care of it. You're obviously not in good condition," Reborn said dismissively. "You guys are practically pouring out blood. You seem ready to faint any second now and Yamiko's breathing doesn't seem too stable. Bring the weapons you're holding in as well, we'll clean them and have them sent to your house."

The girls hesitated and Yamiko glanced over at Fuyuko. "She's going to get your house all bloody."

"Don't worry about it. Would you rather die out here?" Reborn retorted. "On second thoughts, bring your weapons with you. I think you would be more comfortable knowing that you can defend yourself, Fuyuko."

Yamiko hesitated again, holding her sword tightly, but stumbled in after seeing the determined gaze in the depths of Reborn's eyes. While the girls were heading in, the baby transformed Leon into a phone to make a call.

Yamamoto uncertainly reached out to help the girls who were fumbling on their way into the house. Fuyuko sent him a weak glare and pushed his hand away towards Yamiko. He was slightly surprised by the gesture but gave a soft smile.

Yamiko, bleary-eyed, accepted Yamamoto's help. She leaned heavily on him for support, staining his clothes with her blood.

"Ah, sorry..." she rasped. _Damn, that knife Note F threw was way too close to my heart for comfort. I hope there's no internal bleeding. My head's pounding like crazy._

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it."

Fuyuko wobbled in but fell to the floor with a thunk, dizzy from all the blood loss. Her kusarigami landed on the floor in a clatter. Her breathing grew short and her face started to lose its color.

Gokudera started to panic. "What are you doing woman! You're getting blood on Juudaime's floor!"

Fuyuko didn't respond as she started to cough out more blood.

Tsuna's mom called out from the kitchen. "Tsu-kun? Is there something wrong?"

"N-nothing!" Tsuna stuttered. "D-don't worry! No need to come over here!" _If Mom sees two bleeding girls in our house she'll flip!_

Tsuna quickly went to the bathroom to get some towels to temporarily stop the bleeding.

"Dame-Tsuna. That's not going to cut it. Bring them to the hospital," Reborn commanded.

"HIEEEE! Then the nurses and doctors would be suspicious of them!" Tsuna started to freak out.

Reborn kicked Tsuna's head. "Don't worry; I gave a call to the Vongola HQ. They should secure a hospital room and take care of the dead bodies. A hospital vehicle will be sent soon."

Just as he said that they heard a car screeching to a halt outside. Reborn opened the door to reveal an ambulance. Yamiko limped toward it and glanced at Fuyuko. "Hey Yamamoto can you carry Fuyuko?"

Yamamoto nodded, noticing Fuyuko was in no condition to walk. Fuyuko furiously shook her head in protest but the movement her caused her to have a massive headache. Yamamoto picked her and her weapon up and carried her over to the vehicle. Gokudera gently yanked Yamiko to lean against him, seeing that she needed support. Yamiko gave a weak smile and accepted the help. The mafia hospital doctors helped the girls onto some cots and started linking IVs to them. The boys and Reborn rode with the girls in the back, worried and confused the whole way to the hospital.

**At the Hospital**

When they finally arrived at the hospital, the two girls were quickly wheeled into a two-person room. During the ride, Fuyuko had fainted due to loss of blood. Doctors scrambled around to treat the two close-to-dying girls right away. They were paid extra to keep quiet about the extreme injuries.

In about three hours, Yamiko was all bandaged up and cared for. The doctors surgically removed the bullet from her arm and tended to her broken ribs. She was lying on her hospital bed resting and thinking about what just happened that night. She thanked her lucky stars that she didn't have major internal bleeding. However, she was given a small blood infusion for her lost blood to be replenished faster.

Fuyuko was also lucky that the knife had not caused any internal bleeding. It was removed and she was bandaged. She was given a large blood transfusion, having lost more than Yamiko. The bullet in her leg was, too, surgically removed and after everything was over, they let her rest on a bed parallel to Yamiko's. Both of their weapons, masks, and bloody clothes were concealed in a bag which sat next to Yamiko's bed.

Reborn paced the ward thinking about the girls' skills. _Wow. They are truly impressive. Yamiko and Fuyuko can definitely beat Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera combined. Their apparent teamwork can get them through anything. How did they establish such a strong link? Tsuna and the others should learn from them. A few of the assassins looked like they were wearing Verde's weird invisibility suits. Is he working with them now? Fuyuko's last move was interesting. Losing control of her sanity to beat the last person? I never even considered that people of this age could do this._ Seeing that Fuyuko was asleep, Reborn hopped onto Yamiko's bed and climbed onto her pillow. _They could be potential hitman trained personally by me. _Reborn randomly chuckled.

Yamiko looked over to him in confusion. "Reborn-san, do you need something?"

Fuyuko was still out cold due to her blood loss. Seeing this as a safe time to mention it, Reborn started to interrogate her. "Why did you stop Fuyuko from killing the last man?"

Yamiko sighed and sunk deeper into her pillows, her voice wavering. "Whenever she loses control of herself..." Her voice died out.

Reborn probed again. "You guys killed the other men without any hesitation so why did you stop her?"

Yamiko started crying. "Iemitsu-san taught us the times when we need to kill. Fuyuko knows exactly what she's doing when she's conscious of her actions. She knows the responsibilities of taking a life..."

Reborn nodded and motioned her to continue. Her voice grew a bit stronger. "If her unconscious self kills someone, she won't know right from wrong—" Yamiko hiccupped, her tears still flowing. "—She'll just become nothing more than a monster. Cutting down people's lives without any emotion... No shred of mercy in sight, hacking away like a machine. That's not the Vicky, a-ah I mean Fuyuko, I grew up with and love. Sure, she's a sadist but she's not a monster."

Reborn sat there in silence, processing what she had just said. He patted her head until she calmed down. Yamiko gave a short tug of thanks on the baby's hand. His eyebrows furrowed together as he thought. _They sound so close to one another. I wonder how long they have been together. Time for some good research._

Fuyuko was actually awake by the time her sister started her little rant and Reborn sensed that. She kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep as she listened. She knew what Yamiko had meant; if she killed in cold blood she would be no better than a murderer. But to keep her inner self controlled wasn't always easy. And as her sister talked, she faced the brutal truth; she was afraid of herself. _Even though I'm sort of a sadist, I have never felt so much joy in killing. That sensation…I'm always unconsciously yearning for it. I'm…a monster._

Though the guys had tons of questions to ask, they left seeing how tired Yamiko and Fuyuko were. The teens still had to attend school. Reborn made sure to call the principal and make up an excuse for the girls. They both fell into a restful sleep and continued to sleep well into the afternoon of the next day. They woke up to the voices of the guys who had come to visit after school had ended.

Fuyuko opened her eyes wearily, glaring at the guys who were bustling into the room noisily.

"I feel like a have a fucking hangover SO PLEASE SHUT UP," she said as she pulled the covers over her head.

Yamiko also started to rise from her sleep. "Oh no." She yawned, sitting up on the bed. "Not a good time to visit, guys, Fuyuko's cranky."

Tsuna was still shaken over the events that had taken place last night. "We can come back later."

"No, it's fine. Fuyuko will get up. Just wait one second." Yamiko winked as she grabbed her sheathed sword that had sat in the bag next to her bed the whole night. She reached over and smacked Fuyuko on the head with it.

"Ow! What the heck, can't you see I'm injured here?" She got up from under her covers to glare at her sister.

"Hah. It'll take a lot more than that to hurt you," Yamiko retorted.

Fuyuko tiredly examined the room around her. The blood packages had been removed by the nurses early in the morning and next to her bed was a wheelchair. _Oh, fun. _She glanced over at the guys who were standing awkwardly near the door. "If you're going to come in, then come in."

Yamamoto chuckled and they shuffled forward closer to the beds. They pulled out a few chairs next to the bed.

"I brought food!" Yamamoto grinned, lifting the plastic bag filled with bentos. "You guys are hungry right?"

"More importantly," Gokudera interrupted. "Explain. Who are you people? What were those people attacking outside of Juudaime's precious house?"

Fuyuko ignored him and reached over as Yamamoto passed a box filled with sushi to her. She opened it, setting the box on her lap as she reached over again for a pair of wooden chopsticks. After peering over the contents she picked on up, blissfully chewing on the rich tuna.

Gokudera twitched in annoyance. "OI WOMAN! ANSWER ME!"

Yamiko chuckled sheepishly as she also started eating. "Well, it's kind of complicated. But bottom line is, we were picked up by Iemitsu at an early age and started to train with the CEDEF. We were sent here to Japan recently to protect you guys from an opposing mafia family, the Eramo."

"That's right." Reborn spoke up, popping out of nowhere.

"Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

Reborn smirked. "You really want to know?"

"Eh, not really," Tsuna said, shrinking back. "But you knew about Yamiko-sempai and Fuyuko-sempai?"

"Of course. Who do you think I am?" Reborn huffed, hopping on Yamiko's bed.

"Gochisosama deshita." Fuyuko gave a small bow, putting her hand together like she was praying and set her empty box and chopsticks on the small table next to her. She faced towards the guys with a dull face. "So you done talking now? Going to leave yet?"

Tsuna's mouth dropped to the floor as he made his signature 'freak out' face. _SHE DEFINITELY ISN'T WELCOMING US. MORE LIKE, SHE JUST WANTS US TO HURRY UP AND LEAVE._

"Now, now. Don't be so cold hearted." Yamiko laughed. "After all, they came here right after school~"

Fuyuko flopped backwards, lying back on the bed. "Uh, yay. So grateful," she said in a flat tone. She slipped into the wheel chair and ordered Gokudera to push it.

"What? You crazy woman! No way in hell am I going to help you!" Gokudera crossed his arms.

Tsuna gave a jittery laugh. "Just do as she says...But Fuyuko-sempai, are your legs okay?" _To use a wheelchair, she must be in a lot of pain when walking._

"Hah, they're fine. I can limp around easily; I just wanted to use a wheelchair. It looks fun." she smirked.

"What! If you don't need it, just walk!" Gokudera exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah, yeah," Fuyuko drawled out as she wheeled herself out the door. "Yell at the person who saved your petty lives. All guys are the same after all; a bunch of egotistical bastards."

Yamiko shook her head and put her injured arm in a sling. "Let's go~! Wait, where are we going?"

"How about we go to the courtyards?" Yamamoto suggested. "It's sunny outside."

"That's a good idea!" Yamiko cheered as she jumped down from her bed, walking toward the door.

The guys exited, closing the door behind them. Yamamoto grabbed Fuyuko's wheelchair and started to push it towards the courtyard.

"Hey!" Fuyuko looked around, trying to see who was guiding her. Her protests were drowned out by the laughter of the others and she grumbled, sinking into her chair. _Great and I was trying to get away from these crowding idiots. _

They walked out into the bright sunlight, greeted by the warm sun rays. They peacefully walked around enjoying the fresh air.

"It's so nice out here~! Smells so fresh!" Yamiko skipped around smelling flowers and rolling in grass.

Fuyuko sniffed the air. "I don't know what you call fresh but it stinks of blood to me."

"Eh?" Yamamoto questioned. "Blood?"

"I don't smell anything." Gokudera scoffed.

"Don't worry, Fuyuko just has this weird skill. That's how sadistic she is~!" Yamiko giggled, twirling around in glee.

Fuyuko tilted her head to the side. "You make it sound like I'm creepy." Yamiko opened her mouth to speak before Fuyuko cut in. "Never mind, don't comment on that." She pointed towards where she thought the imaginary smell came from. "Over there."

"Ah, we should go see. What if someone is bleeding? Your weird sense may be right!" Yamamoto voiced in concern.

Fuyuko leaned back. "Nah, leave me out. It's too troublesome—" She paused. "Wait. Evil sadist bastard?"

They all turned over to where she was looking to see the prefect with a dangerous smirk on his face; his foot rested on a patient's stomach.

Tsuna turned pale. _Didn't see that! I'll just walk away now and pretend nothing happened. _He looked at the others who all started walking toward Hibari. _WHERE ARE THEY GOING! NO, I'M GOING TO GET BITTEN TO DEATH! HIEEEEE!_

"You bastard," Gokudera spat. "You're interrupting Juudaime's walk like that!"

"It's not good to beat up injured people like that!" Yamiko scolded the cloud guardian.

Yamamoto rubbed the back of his neck. "She's right, you shouldn't injure injured people, Hibari-san."

Tsuna stood there in disbelief as the people started to near Hibari. _They're all crazy. _

"Oi Dame-Tsuna." Reborn cut in. "What are you doing, standing here dumbly for. Go follow them, you're their boss right? A boss has to protect his family."

Tsuna gave him an appalled look. _Is he crazy? I'll get killed!_

Hibari glanced over towards the approaching group, minus Tsuna. "What are you herbivores crowding around for?" He lifted his bloodstained tonfas menacingly. "Kamikorosu, herbivores."

He lunged towards Yamiko but she quickly dodged and grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back. He gave a small grunt in pain but maneuvered out of her hold. He lunged towards her again and she did a small flip backwards. She winced and reached for her ribs. _Doing a move like that. Not a good idea. I'm still injured from yesterday's fight._

He raised his eyebrows in approval. "Wao. So you can fight."

"Like I said before," Yamiko replied, ignoring his remark. "Don't attack injured people."

Fuyuko sat back down in her wheel chair. "Eh, but that's the point isn't it?"

"You bunch of sadists," Yamiko muttered. "Why don't you guys fight then, if you like fighting so much?"

And on cue Hibari lunged for Fuyuko, swinging down at the wheelchair. She jumped out of it just in time, landing with a flip. _Ow! I forgot my leg was hurt._ She glanced at the wheelchair which was now smashed and useless. "Hey! I needed that!"

Yamiko sweat-dropped. _I'm pretty sure you didn't. _

He ignored her protests and attacked her again, but was blocked by Yamamoto's sword that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. "Maa, calm down Hibari. They're injured." His expression turned serious. "If you want to fight, I'll be your opponent."

Hibari smirked. "Do you think you can fight me, herbivore?"

"Well—" Yamamoto grinned. "We'll have to find out won't we?"

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna, what are you going to do? Your family is fighting." Reborn asked once more.

"Eh, but—" He looked nervously at the scene. _I did stop Hibari and Mukuro before._

" Never mind. Yamiko's on the job, you're too slow Dame-Tsuna," Reborn bluntly stated. _This is kind of sad._He thought as Yamiko waved her arms around in a frenzy.

"Please stop fighting!" Yamiko tried to get her friends to stop fighting. "Yama-kun, Hibari-kun, stop~!"

The two fighting guys ignored her and kept battling each other. Out of nowhere, a flash of blue came spiraling through the sky. An all-too-familiar boomerang was stuck in the ground, splitting the Hibari and Yamamoto apart.

"It has been a while, everyone." A boy walked up to the group.

"BASIL~!" Yamiko lunged for him and caught him in a bear hug.

"**H-hello, Tammie.**" Basil blushed and hugged her back while Fuyuko sent him death glares.

"Ne, you don't have to speak English to me anymore. Fuyuko, ah that's Vicky, is making me speak Japanese 24/7. So how was life after we left?" Yamiko kept spouting question after question and Basil fired his answers right back to her.

"Oh, in case you haven't noticed, I'm Yamiko~!" She was breathless after their conversation.

"A-ah, yes, I noticed." Basil sweat-dropped.

Fuyuko grumbled and snatched Yamiko away from Basil. Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera stared at the scene in surprise and Hibari stood a distance away observing silently.

"EHHHH? BASIL, YOU KNOW YAMIKO-SEMPAI AND FUYUKO-SEMPAI?" Tsuna exclaimed in surprise, finally breaking the awkward silence.

Yamiko grinned and flash a peace sign. "Yep~!"

"We told you we trained with CEDEF already," Fuyuko said, sending yet another glared at Basil who winced in return.

Hibari turned to walk away. "If you herbivores are going to gather here, I'm leaving. We'll leave or fight off till next time, and you—" Hibari stopped, looking over at Fuyuko, "—return your hair to the normal color or next time I'll really bite you to death."

Fuyuko childishly stuck her tongue out at him. "Psh, it has to grow out. And like you could beat me."

Yamiko sighed. _Well, I'm pretty sure he's never going to be able to make Fuyuko return to her normal hair color. She dyed it saying it was a symbol of her resolution after all._

"Oi, you bastard! You think you can just walk off like that?" Gokudera spat.

Hibari ignored him and walked off, giving Fuyuko one last glare. Fuyuko turned around to face Gokudera. "Ya, apparently he does."

"No shit, Sherlock," Yamiko mumbled under her breath.

Fuyuko glared at her. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing~!" Yamiko feigned innocence.

Basil sweat-dropped at the usual scene.

Yamamoto went up to Basil. "How long have you known the two of them?"

"Oh, I've known them for a long time now, time wise. But I always went back and forth from Italy to America so technically I haven't been with them too long. However, I know them pretty well personally," Basil answered. "The first time I met them was—" he reminisced back to four years ago as he explained how he met the Fujisaki sisters.

**Flashback**

Basil glanced over at the phone in the Italy CEDEF base which was currently ringing. "Hey Lal, can you pick that up?" he asked in fluent Italian.

"No. Pick it up yourself," she said with a sharp tone.

He sighed and walked over to it, setting the files he was carrying down on a nearby table. "Hello?" he picked up.

"Hey Basil! Perfect, I wanted to talk to you." Iemitsu called from the opposite side over in America.

"Is there something you need, Master?" Basil inquired.

"Yep." Iemitsu nodded. "I need you and Lal to come over to America; I have some people I want you to meet. They're going to be your future companions and allies."

He looked back over to Lal. "Ok, but who?"

"You'll see. Well come soon—" And he hung up.

He sighed and walked over to Lal. "New orders, we have to go to America..."

And with that, he was in an airplane with Lal Mirch, heading over to America.

**A Couple Hours Later in America**

Basil glanced back over at the two girls Iemitsu just introduced to him. _These girls are the new recruits? They don't look very capable of fighting._

"**They're the same age as you! Eleven, I think Victoria is the oldest here." **Iemitsu commented.

The said girl looked away grumpily as Basil nodded.

"**Don't mind her, she's just grumpy. Either way, it's nice to meet you! Call me Tammie~!**" Tammie smiled, her eyes wide with glee.

Basil grinned back and led the girls back to their rooms.

**End Flashback**

"And yeah... that's how we met." Basil sighed.

"How come they're so good at fighting?" Yamamoto asked.

Basil pulled up another memory. "Our training classes were always interesting."

**Flashback**

A twelve year old Basil, head ignited with a blue flame, lunged forward and grabbed Victoria's arm, twisting it behind her back. She stumbled back, tripping over a rock and landed heavily on the ground.

"**It's my win again, Victoria.**" Basil smiled.

Victoria glared at him as she rubbed her sore arm. "**Shut up. I can't use my flames whenever I want to.**"

"**That's why you train**." Iemitsu smirked. "**Tammie and Basil are able to use their flames stably, you know. You have to catch up to them**."

"**If you call that stable...**" Victoria muttered looking over to Tammie who was having a hard time controlling her blades made of storm flame. Her ring glowed with an unsteady red color.

"**That's true but at least she can use it at will. Actually, I think Tammie just needs something to use that will help her stabilize her flames.**" Iemitsu commented.

Tammie who had overheard the conversation stopped her flames and ran over. "**Really? Because I have something in mind then!**"

"**What is it?**" Iemitsu grinned at her excitement.

"**An instrument since I can play a lot of different woodwinds! Not to mention, I could be first chair at any of them if I was in band~! Hey, Iemitsu, do you think that Talbot-san can make me a special piccolo to substitute the rings?**" Tammie's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"**Oh! Wonderful idea, Tammie! I'll see to that as soon as possible!**" Iemitsu promised.

Tammie turned to Victoria. "**No, but really. Why can't you use your flames?**"

Victoria grumbled under her breath. _Society or mafia, they're all the same. _ "**Stinking expectations!**" Her voice started to rise in volume. "**I CAN'T USE THEM BECAUSE I CAN'T! DON'T TRY TO EXPECT SO MUCH FROM ME!**"

Tammie winced. _I was just teasing her. I guess I went too far, she's always been angry when people have high expectations of her. Though I can't blame her after all she's been through. Although… I thought she would at least trust in me…_ Her head lowered in sadness, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

Vicky got to her feet and grabbed her kunai. In a deep rage she threw it in a random direction, which happened towards Basil and it lit with purple flames, multiplying at a rapid speed. Her ring emitted a purple glow. They hit Basil and he gasped in pain as Tammie shrieked in terror.

Iemitsu slightly panicked and picked up Basil carrying him into the base. "**I hope he didn't get hit somewhere fatal. Victoria, you will be held responsible.**"

"**A-ah.**" Victoria wobbled, falling on her knees in the tall grass in regret of what had happened.

Tammie hesitantly walked over to Victoria. "**V-Vicky****?**"

"**Go!**" Victoria snapped.

Tammie was dismayed at the lack of trust. She turned and ran into the base, her silent tears flowing steadily down her face.

A few hours later, Basil laid on a bed, wrapped in bandages. Tammie sat in a chair next to the bed looking worried. Her eyes were red from crying.

"**Don't worry so much.**" Basil grinned. "**I didn't get hurt anywhere fatal. More importantly, Victoria still hasn't come back inside?**"

Tammie nodded and glanced outside. "**It's getting dark too. But if I went to look for her she'll just send me back in.**"

"**Well, I guess she'll eventually come.**" Basil reassured the girl.

Tammie nodded reluctantly. "**I guess.**"

More hours passed and Victoria still didn't come in. Eventually the night flew by and the next morning Iemitsu, Tammie, and Basil went out to train again.

Iemitsu examined a tree that was stabbed with a kunai. "**This...is Vicky's?**"

They headed deeper into the woods to see a surprising scene. Vicky stood holding a shuriken, her eyes closed with concentration. She threw the shuriken and it multiplied, hitting a different tree. "**Yes!**"

"**Wow.**" Iemitsu whistled. "**You've learned to control your flames in one day?**"

She turned over to the group in surprise. "**W-what are you doing here?**"

Tammie cheered and clapped. _The most important thing is knowing your will. Mine is, of course, to stay with Vicky and protecting the people around me. I guess my way of thinking simpler than hers. _"**So is this what you were doing? Pulling an all-nighter training? Geez, I was worried!**"

Basil hid his bubbling feeling of anger under his bangs. He was frustrated at the lack of compassion Victoria showed towards her sister. _Vicky, you obviously don't see how much Tammie cares for you._

Tammie walked closer to Victoria. There were bags under her eyes. Victoria collapsed onto Tammie. "**I'm tired...**"

"**Off to bed you go~!**" Tammie grinned, pulling her over to the base.

As she passed Basil, Victoria bit her lip and looked down at the ground. "**S-sorry.**"

His eyes slightly widened in surprise but in faded into a grin. "**No problem.**"

Tammie, who was supporting Victoria by the shoulder, mouthed 'Rare.' and winked at him. He gave a weak smile back, knowing what she meant. _Don't rely on her too much, Tammie._

They reached the base and Victoria immediately flopped on the bed, slowly falling asleep.

**Flashback End**

"Oh, wow," Yamamoto exclaimed. "So things like that happened."

"It was such a long time ago." Basil smiled.

Fuyuko walked over to them and hit them on the head. "Now stop talking about people's pasts and leave already. Let me rest, geez, I'm an injured person."

They all laughed and headed back inside. After they had seen Fuyuko and Yamiko into their room the boys all left.

Fuyuko sat back on her bed, yawning. "I'm going to sleep again."

"You sleepy head." Yamiko smiled comfortingly.

Fuyuko laughed as she got comfortable on her bed and pulled the covers over her. She thought back to the incident Basil had been talking about, except this time, the moment he didn't know about.

**Flashback**

Tammie and Basil had gone outside to train together and Iemitsu stood in the doorway of Victoria's room. "**What happened to 'don't expect so much of me'? How did you get your flames to work? Figured out your resolution?**"

Victoria muttered a few words before dozing off. "**I hate people having big expectations for me. But I always try to fulfill them; it's a bad habit of mine.**" She chuckled. "**And my resolution, hm. Nope not really.**"

Iemitsu gave her an unidentifiable look. _She isn't even thinking about her sister? _"**Well...I'll let you rest for now.**" And he left the room.

Victoria sighed from under the covers. She got up from her bed and looked out the windows. "**I pull all-nighters all the time. Why should I be tired now?**" _Resolution… As much as I hate to say it...it's probably my pride and fear. Fear of letting people down. Always trying to please others, even if that means becoming someone I'm not. Quite the bad habit that's been drummed into my brain by those blasted parents of mine._ _Basing people on their results, this society is sure screwed up._

**End Flashback **

Fuyuko sighed. _Nothing's changed. Both me and society. If Yamiko wasn't alive, I would have torn down the world, brick by brick. It's hard for me to express my emotions for her…I should work on that, or maybe not. I don't want her to find out about my warped thoughts. She'll definitely cry. Why do I have such a great blood thirst? I'm sickening._

She could hear Yamiko's exclaims as she tapped away at her DS and smiled. _Well I guess this is okay for now._ And she slowly slid into a deep sleep.

Yamiko put her DS on the bed and peered over at Fuyuko. "She's sleeping right? Okay good."

She picked up the calendar sitting on the table. "Let's see, today's May 10th so eight more days until Fuyuko's birthday! Got to plan, got to plan," she hummed as she searched the room for a pen and a piece of paper. "First is the cake; she likes chocolate and strawberries." She grinned and silently chuckled to herself. _This is going to be fun!_

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><p><strong>Yay for birthdays~! R&amp;R!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is pretty slow… Kind of like a filler. That's what you get when you lose inspiration and *cough* don't get any reviews *cough*. I still love you people even if you only read though! R&R.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

"I'm very sorry," the doctor apologized before leaving the room. "But you still have to stay for two more days until you can be released. We won't ask you why your conditions turned out this bad but we expect you to listen to doctor's orders."

Fuyuko twitched in anger as the oh-so-familiar angry symbol was placed on her forehead. "TWO MORE FRICKEN DAYS IN THIS DAMN ROOM?"

From beside her, Yamiko sighed. "Calm down."

"But we've already been here for five days!" Fuyuko complained. "It's stuffy staying here!"

"Open a window," Yamiko bluntly answered; she was too busy focusing on her D.S. game.

"Nooo! That's not what I meant!" Fuyuko got up from the bed and opened the window. "Look! This is Japan! Yet here I am hospitalized for a whole week!"

Yamiko gave her a weird look. "And yet you opened the window."

Fuyuko stuck her tongue out. "Bleh, whatever."

Just then, the door slid open and the guys came in. Yamiko and Fuyuko turned to the doors in surprise.

"This just gets worse and worse." Fuyuko grumbled and turned her gaze out the window.

Yamiko looked at her disapprovingly. Then she sheepishly laughed and spoke to the guys. "Sorry, she's not in a good mood as always." After shutting her D.S. close she noticed the two unfamiliar little kids that accompanied the guys.

"Eh? Who are those two little kiddos?" She smiled warmly at the children.

Tsuna introduced the new people. "This is I-pin, she's from China, and this is Lambo, he's—"

"—the stupid cow." Reborn interrupted with a smirk.

"STUPID REBORN. I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" The cow kid pulled out some pink grenades and chucked them at Reborn. Reborn defensively kicked it away and it landed back in Lambo's afro.

"UWAHHH! Hold it in. Hold it in. H-hold it... in...I CAN'T!" And Lambo started to bawl. A few seconds later, the grenades blew up and he was sent flying through the open window.

Fuyuko sighed at the chaos and stood up, exiting the room. _I'm getting a headache from all this noise. I need coffee._

"Fuyuko-sempai, where are you going?" Yamamoto called out.

He didn't get a response and Yamiko chuckled. "Don't worry about it. More importantly—" She turned to the tiny girl who was currently in Yamamoto's arms. She started speaking in fluent Mandarin. "You're Chinese?"

"Yes!" I-pin smiled at Yamiko and returned Mandarin in her squeaky, little voice. She jumped down from Yamamoto's grasp and into Yamiko's out-stretched arms. The two of them talked to each other for what seemed to be eternity until Basil interrupted them.

"Um, Yamiko-dono? Fuyuko-dono is going to come back anytime now. Didn't you have something in mind?"

Yamiko gave a sly grin. _Basil, you really know me well, don't you?_ "We have been together way to long~! OK LISTEN UP Y'ALL! WE HAVE A PARTY TO PLAN."

Gokudera scoffed. "And why would we need to do that? Juudaime doesn't need to do your dirty work."

"I-it's ok! Why are we doing this?"

"Well, Fuyuko's birthday is on May 18th which is three days from now—"

"EH? REALLY? I DIDN'T KNOW!" Tsuna grabbed the sides of his head in agony.

Reborn kicked Tsuna in the head. "Of course you didn't, Dame-Tsuna."

Basil got the group back on topic. "So, what are you planning to do? Please not anything weird." He shuddered as he thought back to all the previous birthdays that Yamiko tried to plan that involved flamingos, maid outfits, and a pool filled with grape juice. _This girl__ is so weird at times..._

Yamiko sweat-dropped. "You and I were the only ones able to plan it but this time we have more people~!"

"That's true. It's normally just us and the CEDEF members, but they're usually busy and couldn't make it most of the times," Basil agreed.

Yamamoto finally spoke up. "Then we should make it exciting!"

Yamiko nodded. "I was thinking we should—"

She was interrupted midway by the opening of the door. Fuyuko looked around as everyone stared at her with surprised and alarmed faces. "Is there something on my face?"

"No nothing!" Yamamoto covered up smoothly.

She gave them weird looks as she sat down on her bed and opened the can of coffee.

"So that's where you went, Fuyuko-dono," Basil stated.

Fuyuko spit out her coffee and tried to stifle her laughter. _FUYUKO-DONO? He still hasn't fixed that? Iemitsu's weird teachings make him think Japan's still in its feudal era. It's funny so I'll leave him be. _She smirked.

Yamiko knew what Fuyuko was thinking. "Hey! Don't just laugh, teach him!"

"But it's not like it's incorrect or anything." She chuckled. "Just outdated."

"Is there something wrong with the way I speak, Fuyuko-dono?" Basil asked, followed by another failed attempt to drink her coffee.

As she tried to calm down, she began to speak through her giggles. "Y-you speak like a samurai would!"

Basil made a confused face. "But that's how Master taught me..."

"And he taught you wrong," Yamiko cut in tiredly.

"B-but—"

Fuyuko sighed. _There goes my fun._ "Just leave the -dono part off for now. I'll teach you everything when this is all over—" She stopped to rephrase her words. "If...I can."

There was a still silence in the room as Basil, Yamiko, and Fuyuko had grim expressions on their faces. The three of them shared the same thoughts. _If we're alive after this is over._

The others stood, confused at the tense atmosphere but it quickly dissolved as Yamiko gave a wide grin. "You guys better get going! The sun is starting to set."

"Ah, you're right!" Tsuna exclaimed. "I have to go shop for dinner."

The boys started to exit the room when Yamiko called out again. "Wait Basil! Where are you staying at right now? Our house is big so you could crash there."

Fuyuko grumbled in protest but stopped as Yamiko gave her the evil eye.

Basil momentarily blushed. "B- but I'm staying at Sawada-dono's..." He looked over at Fuyuko who was giving off threatening telepathic messages. _Don't you DARE accept!_

He gulped and glanced around. All of the guys had confused expressions on their faces and Reborn smirked, getting the situation. "Tsuna's house is crowded. You should go over there Basil."

Two instantaneous reactions: one person out to kill and the other feeling the despair of what was to come. As Fuyuko fumed and Basil fidgeted, Reborn sat on Yamamoto's head feeling oh-so-mighty.

_That baby, I swear he's doing this on purpose to make me angry. _Fuyuko inwardly groaned as she marched up to the guys, pushed them out the door, and slammed it shut.

Yamiko huffed. "I wanted to talk to I-pin-chan more! Geez, why'd you kick them out like that?"

Fuyuko collapsed on her bed in mental exhaustion. She looked out the window hearing a faint "Reborn! I'll kill you!" and a couple grenades exploding, courtesy of the weird cow kid. _What have I gotten myself involved in?_

"I still haven't reached the guy I liked!" Yamiko remembered and grabbed her DS, excitedly continuing her previous game.

And like that, two days passed by and the sisters were released from the hospital.

"Yes, finally out of that dump!" Fuyuko exclaimed, stretching her stiff arms as she carried the bag with all their bloody equipment and clothes.

"Don't say that." Yamiko pouted as she looked off into the distance of the street. "Isn't that Tsu-kun and the others?"

"Hey!" Yamamoto called out from afar, waving his hands. Yamiko waved back and soon the two groups joined together, heading towards the Fujisaki residence. They started to near the house and Yamiko showed Basil the neighborhood. Seeing that Basil was fine without their presences, Tsuna and his two friends left. Her eyes sparkled as they arrived at the front gate.

"Hey, Basil~! This is your new place in Japan!" Yamiko waved him over excitedly, opening the gate.

His jaw dropped in amazement. ""H-how did you get a place this big?"

Fuyuko and Yamiko sweat-dropped at his reaction. _Wow, everyone keeps asking the same thing...but then again, we did too._

Yamiko proudly smiled. "Oh you know, the usual. Mafia connections and all that crap. They had to tear down four houses in order to get this one built. It's a wonder how none of our neighbors are suspicious." She turned to face Fuyuko. "We should probably give him a tour~! Don't you think?"

Fuyuko looked at Yamiko skeptically. "You really want to know what I think?"

Yamiko skillfully avoided the question and turned back to Basil. "Let's go in!"

Fuyuko grumbled again. _I really don't want to follow them around. But Basil might make a move on my poor, dense, little Tammie. How depressing. _

They all walked through the garden and entered the front door. "You can leave your shoes here!" Yamiko sang cheerfully.

Fuyuko sighed as she entered into the hallway, heading towards the laundry room. She placed the bag in there before popping back out to resume the tour. She pointed briefly to the room she had just exited. "Laundry room."

Yamiko rolled her eyes. "Way to be exciting." She led them down the hallway pointing out various rooms along the way. "That's the guest bathroom, this is the guest room you'll be staying at, and this is our room and our bathroom."

The hallway got wider leading to a large area with sofas and chairs. "The living room." Yamiko gestured. "And that's the music room which is connected to the game room right next to it."

"Actually a lot has changed since we first moved in." Fuyuko went on.

"Yeah, we went out a bought a lot of furniture and other stuff to fill in the empty rooms." Yamiko informed. "We also did a lot of remodeling and additions."

Basil looked around. "I see you have a music room."

Yamiko nodded. "We're both pretty musical as you know. I can play almost all of the band instruments: clarinet, oboe, trumpet, flute, saxophone, guitar, ukulele, and obviously, piccolo; there are more but they're just variations. Fuyuko can play the piano, guitar, bass guitar, harp, cello, viola, and violin. Always ahead of me..." Her voice trailed off.

Fuyuko gave her a slightly cross expression. "Hey, it's not like I'm extremely musically talented like you who can just pick up an instrument and self-teach yourself. I went through years of lessons; all because of those stupid—forget it."

Yamiko gave a weak smile. "I know..." She faced Basil again and attempted to grin. He looked at her in concern but didn't say anything. "So we have been recording and composing works for our instruments, not to mention songs too. But these days we focus less on music because we have to 'babysit' Tsu-kun."

Fuyuko walked on and pointed to another room. "Dining room. And right next to that is, obviously the kitchen." She looked directly at Basil. "That's _my_ kitchen. Don't break anything or else."

"And that's pretty much it!" Yamiko wrapped up. "You want tea or something?"

"Sure!" Basil agreed. Yamiko gestured towards the living room and he sat down.

She then turned to Fuyuko. "Go make tea."

"Since when was I your maid?" Fuyuko said annoyed.

Yamiko grinned manipulatively. "Ever since you claimed the kitchen as yours."

_She got me._ Fuyuko walked tiredly over to the kitchen and started to boil some water. She brought the tea out with some snacks and headed over to the music room. "Don't bother me." She closed the door firmly behind her and walked into the recording room that was connected to the music room, preparing some stuff on the computers.

Meanwhile outside in the living room Yamiko grinned. "Okay this is our chance to plan out the birthday, it's tomorrow."

"Won't Fuyuko hear us?" Basil asked nervously.

"Don't worry about it." Yamiko reassured. "The music rooms sound proof. You can't hear what's going on inside and you can't hear what's going on outside. Ok. Let's start planning~!"

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><p><strong>Omnomnom. After writingediting this, I got hungry. Yu-pyon, bake me something. Le sigh.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Finally, the anticipated birthday~! Eh…kind of. -.-" Yes, I'm a lonely author. Yukiko and I are forever alone. I'm going to go grow mushrooms in my closet **

**HAH. DID YOU SEE THAT OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOSTCLUB REFERENCE? I've been re-watching OHSHC and Kaichou wa Maid-sama because I have nothing else to do.**

**Oh! I forgot to tell you guys last time that Yu-pyon and I changed some parts and edited the past chapters so check that out if you want to!  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

"Oh, did everyone leave?" Fuyuko asked as she finally walked out of the music room.

Yamiko's eyebrows rose. "Don't give me that crap. You purposely waited until they left."

She shrugged. "Where did Basil go?"

"He's in his room getting settled," Yamiko said as her stomach started to grumble.

"Our fridge is kind of empty, you want to go out to eat tonight?" Fuyuko suggested. "We can go to a ramen place or something."

Yamiko abruptly shook her head. "NO—" She lowered her voice, seeing Fuyuko's startled expression. "I-I don't really feel like eating ramen today. L-let's order fried chicken!"

"Sure…" Fuyuko said, slightly alarmed by her sister's reactions. "Let me find someplace nearby to call then. Get Basil and ask if he's hungry."

"Okay~! Yay, fried chicken!" Yamiko sang as she made her way over to Basil's door.

Fuyuko grabbed her cellphone and a newspaper to find a close shop. As she dialed the number she thought about Yamiko's sudden outburst. _She's up to something._

After placing their order, the three waited for the delivery to come. It arrived ten minutes later and they enjoyed a nice meal. Afterwards, Fuyuko walked over to her room and grabbed her laptop. She connected it to the large TV in the living room. Basil and Yamiko looked at her questioningly as they sat on the sofa. After a brief moment the TV screen turned on, displaying her computer screen. The cursor drifted around the screen for a while before clicking the full screen button on a video chat screen. It enlarged on the TV, showing Iemitsu's face.

He moved closer to the camera on his side, giving the teens a good view of his nose. "Is it working?"

"Can you hear me?" Fuyuko called out as she wired a camera and angled it towards the other two.

"Oh! It's Victoria, or should I call you Fuyuko? I see Basil and Yamiko! Wow, technology has brought us so far! Before you know it there's going to be three-dimensional things!" Iemitsu waved.

Yamiko and Basil waved back, giving him a weird look. _3-D movies are available and people these days are working on holograms…_

Fuyuko shook her head in exasperation and walked over to the couch, sitting in between the two. "I'm sure Basil already reported the basics but we figured we'd go more into detail about our most recent battle."

"They're strong," Yamiko stated. "But it's not anything to worry about. We wouldn't have taken so much damage if it weren't for the invisibility suits the last two men had."

"Invisibility suits?" Iemitsu said in surprise. He rubbed his unshaven chin. "What do you think, Reborn?"

"It sounds like Verde to me, especially if they were green. We've seen them before." Reborn said, casually sipping his tea as he stood on top of the coffee table.

"The scientist arcobaleno?" Basil exclaimed. "That's—"

"Hold on. How did you get here?" Yamiko looked at Reborn in surprise.

His eyes glinted dangerously as the other sweat-dropped.

"Yeah they were green." Fuyuko confirmed. _They managed to get an arcobaleno on their side? This is not good. But why would Verde team up with them?_

Yamiko bit her lip. "This isn't good, is it?"

Iemitsu sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Don't worry too much about it. We can probably manage this ourselves without having to get the ninth busy with this problem; but make sure to always keep your guard up."

"You know, it's a little unfair." Fuyuko stated flatly. "We're risking our lives and we don't even know why Tsuna is being attacked. I believe you have some explaining to do here."

Iemitsu sighed again. "I figured you'd say something like that but unfortunately, the information for this problem is strictly confidential. As much as I feel like you guys should be aware of the problems, I'm not allowed to release information without permission."

"But you're the external advisor; shouldn't you be able to give permission to tell us?"

"Sorry, Fuyuko. It doesn't quite work that way..." Iemitsu gave a weak smile but turned solemn again. "Make sure to always be on watch. The Eramo family has always been known to be unpredictable."

"How do you know so much about this family? We told Tsuna and the others a very vague description of their position. How long have the Eramo and Vongola known each other?" Yamiko had a worried look on her face.

He hesitated again before speaking. "I can't say. Sorry."

"I guess external advisors can't really do much, huh?" Fuyuko baited.

The orange suited man was alert today; his ditzy demeanor seemed to have never existed. "Not falling for that. Still can't tell you—" He was interrupted by a ringing phone. "I have to take my leave now. I'll catch up with you guys next time." He fumbled around mumbling, "How do you end this…"

With a sigh, Fuyuko walked over to the computer and pressed the 'end video chat' button. "Show's over. I'm going back to do some research."

"Eh? What research?" Basil inquired.

Fuyuko grinned. "The Eramo family, I should be able to figure out something if I hack into their main database."

"But Iemitsu said we're not allowed to know!" Yamiko pouted.

"He said he couldn't tell us, but he never said we couldn't find out about stuff on our own." Fuyuko countered.

"It won't make a difference." Reborn hopped off of the couch. "Search all you want, you're not going to find anything other than the basic information. I'm leaving now." He tilted his fedora hat slightly and walked out through the door.

"Bye, Reborn-san." Yamiko smiled tiredly.

Fuyuko carried her laptop over to the computer room. "I'll be busy for a while, sleep before me if I take too long."

"Well I'm going to sleep now." Yamiko trudged over to their room.

"Yamiko, you know it's still 8 o'clock right?" Basil gave her an unsure look.

"I know, I'm tired though." Yamiko mumbled sleepily.

"Goodnight then."

In their room, Yamiko pulled out the futons, one for herself and one for Fuyuko, from the closet. She soon fell asleep into a deep slumber after changing into a tank-top and fuzzy pajama pants. Over in the computer room, Fuyuko cursed under her breath. _Damn it. I can't find anything else other than basic information. They have their files heavily guarded, is it the work of that arcobaleno? _

The day ended and the moon shined beautifully overhead through the night before the sun rose again in the morning. Yamiko blearily rose from her bed and brushed away at her messy bedhead. She changed into a short sleeve black hoodie that said "Music Never Sleeps" in white, block letters. Underneath she wore white shorts paired with a red belt. Giving a loud yawn, she walked out of the room and entered the kitchen. She was startled to see Fuyuko there, eating cereal.

"When did you get up?" Yamiko asked, pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

Fuyuko poured more cereal into her bowl, eating away. "I didn't."

"You pulled an all-nighter?" Yamiko exclaimed. _We have to celebrate her birthday today! Does she even remember it's her birthday today? Probably not._

Fuyuko nodded at her sister's question. Yamiko noticed the thin dark circles rimming the bottom of her eyes. "I couldn't find anything, no matter how much I hacked."

"What's going on?" Basil asked, entering the kitchen, wearing his usual clothes. Yamiko wordlessly passed him the cereal box.

Fuyuko gave a yawn and stretched her arms. "I think it's pointless to keep looking anymore. We're not going to find anything. If I snoop around any longer they might realize that they're being hacked and locate my laptop. I'm going off to bed now then." She rose and dumped her bowl into the sink.

"NO WAIT!" Yamiko reached over from her seat and grabbed Fuyuko's arm.

Fuyuko glanced irritably down at her. "What? I'm tired. Let me go."

"No." Yamiko pouted. "Fuyuko, come on, listen to me, you…have to adjust your sleeping schedule!"

Fuyuko scoffed. "My sleeping schedule is always messed up anyways, one day off isn't going to change anything. Let me sleep, I'm tired."

Yamiko tried to persuade her again. "If you're tired then drink coffee! You like coffee, so drink it. I'll even make it for you~!"

Fuyuko gave her a weird look. "Why can't I just sleep?"

"BECAUSE I SAID SO. IF YOU SLEEP I'M GONNA—" She paused to think. "—TELL PEOPLE THAT YOU REPLY TO QUESTIONS TRUTHFULLY IN YOUR SLEEP."

"I do?" Fuyuko took a step back.

"Yup! I was just talking to you a couple of days ago. You said that—"

Fuyuko, very embarrassed, quickly covered Yamiko's mouth with her hand. "I don't want to know." _Knowing her she probably asked me something weird._

"Yay my win~!" Yamiko let go of her arm and twirled around. _ I didn't actually talk to her a couple of days ago. I haven't tried to talk to her in her sleep ever since that one time in school actually. I should do it again sometime._

Grumbling at her defeat, Fuyuko plopped back down on her chair as Yamiko started to make some coffee.

Fuyuko sighed. "At least I get coffee."

Yamiko poured a mug full and stared at Fuyuko contently as the sleep-deprived girl sipped her coffee.

Fuyuko gave her a weird look. "Are you going to stop staring at me?"

"Oh, sorry! After your done do you want to play some video games or something?"

"Sure...let me change first." _Why is Yamiko being so nice today? This is really weird. _Fuyuko walked over to her room and searched through her closet. She pulled on a white crewneck that was really baggy and came down to mid-thigh. It had an alien-like creature on it in black and she wore ripped black leggings to match, unintentionally contrasting with her sister.

The rest of the morning, the two girls entertained themselves by trying to teach Basil how to play video games. Yamiko giggled as she watched Fuyuko mess with a very confused Basil.

"What's this weird mushroom looking object?" Basil awkwardly held the Wii nunchuk in his hand left hand and the controller with his right.

"Uh, that's called a joystick..."

"Eh? If you press it would it bring you happiness?"

Yamiko gave him a weird look. "No, it's how you control your character when you play this game, Super Smash Bros Brawl."

After a couple more minutes of futilely trying to explain how to play the game, Yamiko threw up her arms in defeat. "Basil, how about Fuyuko and I play while you watch!"

The boy sheepishly agreed and watched for ten more minutes. Soon after Basil had learned the basics, they continued to play for a while, trying out a whole bunch of pirated games that Fuyuko and Yamiko had bought in America. Before long, they got bored and lazed around the house, reading manga and listening to music. Yamiko glanced over at the clock, it was already 4:30; they had skipped over lunch due to a late breakfast. _This would be a good time to make that phone call._

She looked over at Fuyuko who had headphones on and immersed in a manga. She slowly sneaked out of the computer room and dashed over to her room, shut the door tightly, and pulled out her phone. She entered in a number and waited patiently as the phone on the other side was picked up.

"Hello, this is Oishii Suzuki Ramen!" A friendly sounding voice picked up.

"This is the Fujisaki residence; I called you yesterday about the plans for today…" Yamiko murmured into the phone for extra precautions.

"Oh yes! The surprise, we'll have it ready. When will you come?"

"I think we'll be there pretty soon, around 5:00?"

"We'll keep an eye out for you then."

"Thank you so much! Just look out for a girl with light blue hair standing with a guy and another girl. That would be us~!"

"Alright then, we will be waiting for you!"

"Thank you!"

"No problem." The phone clicked as they hung up.

Yamiko grinned. _Well the stage is set now, all that's left is to get this show on the road._ She skipped back over to the computer room and excitedly cried out to the two. "Let's go out to dinner tonight!"

Basil glanced up at her, knowing what she was planning, and went along with the flow. "That sounds good. Where will we eat?"

"I'm in the mood for ramen today!" Yamiko exclaimed, glancing over at Fuyuko who didn't show any sign of reaction. She raised her voice. "Yum! I'm the mood for ramen~!"

Fuyuko looked up and pulled off her headphones, letting them rest on her neck. "Sorry, what?"

Yamiko's smile faltered and curved downward. _Gah, I set it up well too. Why'd she have to go collapse it like that? Great._

Basil noisily cleared his throat. "Today seems like a great day for ramen."

"Ramen, huh," Fuyuko considered. "There's some instant lying around somewhere if you want."

Yamiko twitched. _She. Is. Making. This. So. DIFFICULT. _"No! Let's go eat real ramen!" She grabbed Fuyuko's arm and pulled her up.

"Ow, what's you today?" Fuyuko grumbled as she set her manga down on the floor, half dragged out the door with Basil following.

"Come on! Don't you want to eat real ramen? Authentic ramen? _TRADITIONAL_ STYLED RAMEN?" Yamiko urged.

Fuyuko's eyes slightly sparkled, semi-interested. "Hm, traditional styled... Yeah I've never actually been to a real Japanese ramen house before." She grinned. "Let's go!"

"Yeah~!" Yamiko cheered. _Finally. This girl and her weird obsession with traditions and culture._

Basil shared a grin with Yamiko as they exited the door, heading towards the shop. They walked a couple of blocks until they reached a remote little shop at the end of the road. The three of them walked in excitedly.

"Welcome to Oishii Suzuki Ramen!" A man greeted them from behind the counter.

They walked over to the counter and sat down. The three looked over to the wall to check out the menu.

"I'm Suzuki Hiroki." He leaned over the counter and whispered into Yamiko's ear. "Fujisaki right?"

Yamiko nodded excitedly. Another woman came out from the back where the kitchen is and smiled at them. "Welcome, I'm Suzuki Hanabi. What would you like?"

Basil's nose wrinkled in confusion as he stared at the menu on the wall.

Yamiko also hesitated. _Ramen is ramen, what's with all the types? Those kanji are hard on my brain._

Fuyuko grinned as she placed her detailed order. "Miso ramen, please, with hard noodles. Extra cabbage and pork, and no eggs." She glanced over at the others who seemed to be having some trouble. "Uh, want me to order for you guys?" She chuckled as they vigorously nodded their heads and faced back to the woman behind the counter. "Let's see...for Yamiko, shoyu ramen and extra nori. And for Basil, tonkotsu ramen, soft noodles."

Yamiko grinned. "I'm assuming you know exactly what you're talking about and that you ordered stuff to our preferences?"

"I've been with you guys a long time." Fuyuko puffed out her cheeks and looked away embarrassedly.

After a short wait, three large steaming bowls of ramen were served in front of them. Yamiko reached over to grab three pairs of wooden chopsticks from the chopstick stand and handed them to Basil and Fuyuko.

"Itadakimasu!" Fuyuko said as she split the chopsticks and started to dig in. Basil and Yamiko soon followed her suit and the ramen was slowly devoured in a peaceful silence. After the bowls were emptied and their stomach's content, the three close friends chatted for a while. Yamiko caught the eye of Suzuki Hanabi, the shopkeeper's wife, and nodded towards her as they shared a private grin. The lady left to the back area and signaled her husband who turned off the lights.

"What the—" Fuyuko exclaimed, partly in surprise and partly in annoyance. "Black out?"

Yamiko and Basil grinned as a dim light started to approach them. The people in the shop started singing the typical birthday song.

Fuyuko's eyes widened in surprise as Hanabi-san walked out from the back, holding a cake that had one long candle and six short ones lit. "Wait, it's my birthday today? I completely forgot!"

Hanabi-san smiled in amusement as she set down the cake. "Blow it out!"

Fuyuko awkwardly hesitated before letting out a huge breath of air. The room got dark again and clapping surrounded her as the lights turned on. Now having a better view, Fuyuko admired the cake. It was chocolate with strawberries on top. She turned to the grinning teenagers and gave an exaggerated sigh. "So this is why I couldn't sleep and why we had to go eat ramen?"

"Yup!" Yamiko smiled and gave Fuyuko a huge hug.

"Ugh, get off of me." Fuyuko pushed her off with an embarrassed look on her face.

Basil passed her a colorfully wrapped present. "This is from us."

"And by the numerous colors and curly ribbons, I'm guessing Yamiko wrapped it?" Fuyuko analyzed.

"Bingo~!"

Fuyuko laughed and started to unwrap it, revealing a stack of albums. Her eyes widened. "Holy shit, how did you guys find these?" She pulled off the rest of the wrapping paper and stared at the CD albums in awe. "Mae! And the Morning, Afternoon, and Evening ones!

"It was worth it if it makes you that happy. We know you've always wanted the real albums." Yamiko grinned. "Time to eat cake!"

Hanabi-san started to cut the cake and served them to the three teens. Fuyuko noticed that the two adults weren't eating. "You can go ahead. Thanks for the meal."

Yamiko shared a smile with Basil. _Fuyuko is really happy today! Success!_

After that, the blue headed girl brought her friends to a nearby karaoke place. They entered a competition there coincidentally and of course, the foreign duo won the first prize of two hundred bucks.

Yamiko jumped up and down with glee. "I knew we would win! After all, we have been singing together since…a long, long time ago~!"

Fuyuko smiled brightly as she thanked her friends for spending so much effort to please her. They reserved out a karaoke room and Basil laughed in amusement as the girls got 100% accuracy every song. Time passed by as they spent more time inside their karaoke room and soon it was near midnight. The three went back home and slept peacefully until morning.

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><p><strong>Heck yeah. Jason Chen reference FTW! If you guys don't already know who he is, you should check out his YouTube channel: miniachilles or something like that. He's awesome~!<strong>

**MusicNeverSleeps. R&R.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm so sorry I didn't update in such a long time. Vacation and stuff… A big hug to all our supporters~! Thank you!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

"Wake up!" Yamiko cried as she pulled the covers off of Fuyuko.

Fuyuko murmured something incomprehensible and threw her pillow at Yamiko.

She quickly grabbed the pillow and flung it back as Fuyuko groaned in annoyance. "What time is it?"

"10 o'clock. Get up!" Yamiko urged as she pulled at the elder girl's arm. "Hurry!"

Fuyuko sat up and heaved a sigh. "What now? I'm old, let me sleep will you?"

"You're sixteen, big deal." Yamiko rolled her eyes and sat down. "Anyways, I got a call from Reborn-san this morning. He's asking us to train Tsu-kun and the others at eleven. He didn't give us a specific place so I guess we can pick."

Fuyuko's eyes narrowed. "I didn't come here to train some little kids."

"Well neither did I but we can't go against Reborn-san!"

Fuyuko groaned and fell back again, her long hair sprawling around her. "I'm not good at training people. Can we just spar them?"

"Well that's a way to train them I guess… Reborn-san asked us to train each of the separately and help them see what they need to work on," Yamiko said hesitantly.

"I haven't seen them fight yet, how am I supposed to figure out how to train them?"

Yamiko face-palmed. "Well I guess we have to try."

After Fuyuko finished another round of complaints and grumbles she finally dragged herself out of bed to sit next to Yamiko. "Go call Reborn and tell him to find a place for us to train at."

"Why don't they come here so we can go to the training room?"

Fuyuko punched her sister in the arm. "As much as I like that idea, you're going to destroy our poor home."

Yamiko rubbed her head sheepishly. "So then where do we go?"

"Let's just call Reborn and ask."

Yamiko got up to get her cellphone and dialed Reborn's number. After a couple of rings the call was received from the other side.

"_Ciaossu._"

"Reborn-san, I finally got Fuyuko to wake up. Where do you think we should meet?"

After a moment of silence, Reborn spoke. "_How about Death Mountain?_"

"Eh?! Death Mountain?! But—"

"_It's just a replica that we made,_" Reborn interrupted the confused girl. He quickly gave her the location and hung up.

The two of them walked to the kitchen, met with Basil, and swept through the kitchen to grab a few pieces of French toast that he had already prepared. "Death Mountain at eleven. Let's go down to the training room to get out weapons ready."

Basil set down his tea and followed them. "Okay!"

Downstairs in the training room, Yamiko and Fuyuko walked around examining the weapons while Basil waited for them.

"So…how are we going to train them?" Yamiko asked Fuyuko.

Fuyuko picked a kusarigama that she had used before, and turned to Yamiko. "Well pick someone you want to fight with."

"Ah, let's each choose one of them and while one pair fights, the other two pairs can sit on the side and comment." Yamiko nodded to herself. "I'll take Goku-chan then~! I think that he should work on close range fighting based on what the files said."

"Then I'll train with Sawada-dono, I've trained with him before to." Basil decided.

"And that leaves me with Yamamoto." Fuyuko sighed.

_I'm worried for Yamamoto._ Yamiko grabbed her Chinese sword she used last time. "I'm fine with just this, a pouch of needles, and, of course, my piccolo. How about you?"

"I guess I'll take this," Fuyuko said as she inspected her kusarigama. "And a couple of kunai and shuriken." Her eye caught something and she grinned. "Nice, Iemitsu really did prepare everything." She walked over and took a pair of metal fans with razor blades on the end.

"Basil, you're just going to bring Metal Edge right?" Yamiko asked him.

"Yup. Sawada-dono mainly fist fights." Basil answered.

"Metal Edge? That boomerang thingy that you use?" Basil nodded at Fuyuko's question.

"Okay, so we're all set?" Yamiko asked.

"Yeah."

"Let's go then~!" Yamiko cheered with too much pep and Fuyuko threw a punch to her in annoyance. Yamiko's hand shot out and grabbed her fist before her sister could touch her and lightly nudged her away. "I know, I know, make sure you're always on guard."

Then, they left the training room and headed upstairs. Yamiko and Fuyuko changed into simple, easy to move around in clothes and strapped on their weapons.

"Okay lets head out!" Yamiko exclaimed. They left the house together and started to head towards Death Mountain. When they got there, they saw the boys and waved 'hi'.

"Hey Reborn. Do you know a clearing on this mountain that we could go to?" Fuyuko asked.

"Yeah. Follow me, minions!" He commanded as he hopped off of Yamamoto's head to lead the way.

Fifteen minutes later, they stepped into a slightly more open clearing in midst of the forest. It was relatively circular but on one side, there was a rocky wall towering over the area.

Yamiko described to the guys how they were going to train.

Gokudera scoffed. "So this is what Reborn-san called us out for? What a waste of time. I can take the three of you on myself. Juudaime shouldn't waste his precious time on you guys."

In a flash, Gokudera was surrounded by the two girls. Fuyuko was behind him with her kunai pressed against the back of his neck. Yamiko had a cheery smile on her face standing right in front of him with her sword tip lightly poking him in the stomach.

Basil was standing where he was, unfazed by the two girl's reactions. "Don't understand them, Gokudera-dono."

Gokudera was as still as a rock as the cold metal blades pressed against him.

"Che." He gave a frustrated expression as the girls released him.

Reborn smirked. "Looks like you guys have a long way to go just to catch up to Yamiko and Fuyuko."

Tsuna and Yamamoto had amazed expressions plastered to their faces.

"EH?! WE CAN'T FIGHT AGAINST THEM!" Tsuna exclaimed.

Reborn kicked him in the head. "Don't be stupid, Dame-Tsuna. If you're lucky, they won't accidentally kill you when you're training."

"HIEEEEE!"

Fuyuko scoffed. "Let's just start. Tsuna you are going to be paired up with Basil."

Tsuna heaved a relieved sigh and smiled at Basil. The CEDEF agent shook his head. "Don't leave your guard down. You haven't been the only one improving."

Basil lunged forward while popping a Dying Will Pill into his mouth. A blue flame ignited on his forehead and his Metal Edge. Tsuna jumped back in surprise as Basil's blade narrowly missed him. Tsuna's head was down and as he lifted it the others could see an orange flame burning on his forehead.

He stared at Basil. "So you didn't lie when you said you got stronger, but I haven't been standing still either!"

He pulled his gloved hand back which was also alit with flames and punched towards Basil. Basil dodged it and attacked back and the two continued to spar.

The others had backed up to the edge of the clearing, watching the battle closely.

"Whoa! That was pretty fast for Tsuna. Being able to eat a Dying Will Pill and pulling his gloves on while he was dodging Basil's blow. Maybe I should have fought him, it looks interesting." Yamiko observed.

Reborn's eyes glinted in interest. "Then who are you fighting against Yamiko?"

"Goku-chan!" Yamiko grinned while Gokudera fumed in a corner. "We're both storm flame users after all so I figured it would be interesting."

Yamamoto looked up in thought. "Then am I fighting with Fuyuko-sempai?"

"Yep!" Yamiko nodded. They looked over to Fuyuko who was merely observing the fight silently. "Good luck not dying!"

Yamamoto looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"You'll see!" Yamiko dismissed. They turned back to the battle.

Tsuna currently had an advantage over Basil. The brunet was forcing Basil into the forest where he would have trouble fighting. Basil smirked as he noticed his friend's plan.

Yamiko giggled in a creepy way and Fuyuko chuckled. "Tsuna doesn't realize the mistake he's making. Watch closely."

Tsuna had Basil about ten yards into the forest. In a second, Basil was gone from his line of sight.

"Never show your back to your opponent." The CEDEF agent's voice was heard from behind. His fist went sailing and made square contact in the small of Tsuna's back. Tsuna yelled in pain and bent back with the momentum but fell forward.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction as Newton once theorized~!" Yamiko sang.

Yamamoto and Gokudera exchanged a disturbed look. Tsuna then finally realized his mistake of driving Basil into the woods. The CEDEF agent was more experienced in this kind of terrain. He desperately tried to push Basil back into the clearing. Basil lunged forward with his Metal Edge and prepared to hit Tsuna with the sharp side of the blade. The brunet ducked just in time and Metal Edge got stuck in a tree on the edge of the clearing.

Tsuna leapt out of the clearing and decided this was the time to hit Basil with his X-Burner. However, Basil being his good friend, he hesitated. Basil noticed this and took the opportunity to attack. He quickly stopped trying to get his weapon out of the tree and punched Tsuna squarely in the chest.

Tsuna flew back with the impact and crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the rocky terrain. His bright orange flame died out and his gloves changed back into mittens. In a flash, Basil had Metal Edge set against Tsuna's throat.

"Was that hesitation I sensed?" Basil's eyes narrowed accusingly. The flame on his, too, died out as he understood that Tsuna was in no condition to train any longer. He removed the weapon from Tsuna's throat and walked back over to Yamiko and Fuyuko.

"Good job you two." Yamiko clapped. Tsuna slowly made his way back to the group feeling dismayed that he lost.

"Even though you have more potential, you lost because you had too much hesitation in you." Reborn criticized. "You never know when a friend will betray you. You have to be ready to fight them."

"No way! None of my friends will betray me!" Tsuna said defiantly.

"You never know," Fuyuko muttered.

"Eh, what did you say?"

"Nothing." Yamiko answered back curtly.

The guys were confused at the sudden change of attitude but Basil told them not to worry about it.

"Okay, Goku-chan~! Let's go next! Their fight has got me super pumped up!" Yamiko jumped up and down excitedly.

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><p><strong>R&amp;R<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Yay I uploaded today!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

"Why do I have to be paired up with _you_?" Gokudera sneered.

Fuyuko scoffed. "Don't underestimate her, be careful not to lose any limbs."

"Let's start!" Yamiko grinned.

He grudgingly walked to the middle of the clearing with Yamiko.

"So," Yamiko said as she spun to face him. She pulled out a small, glass bell and shook it, releasing a high pitched jingle. "We're not going to just spar like Basil and Tsu-kun. I've thought veeerryyyy hard about this; I want you to try to steal this bell from me!" She tied her hair up and safely fastened the bell to the hair tie.

"Don't worry I won't cheat. This bell is not fully tied." She demonstrated by swiftly pulling out the bell easily.

Gokudera laughed mockingly. "This is going to be easy." He lit his ring with storm flames and opened one of his Sistema CAI boxes. Almost immediately, his Flame Arrow appeared, strapped to his left arm. His other unused boxes were strapped on a belt across his waist.

"The legendary boxes! You think you look so cool, huh." Yamiko smirked.

Gokudera's face twisted up with irritation and fury. He wordlessly loaded his dynamite into the Flame Arrow. He aimed it towards her and the ammo blasted out like a bullet.

Yamiko sidestepped it and the bell jingled tauntingly. "Living up to your name, Smoking Bomb Hayato."

Gokudera's temper kept rising as she taunted him. He opened another box and pulled out a different bullet. He loaded it into his Flame Arrow and shot again in her direction. Yamiko stepped aside again, expecting the bullet to fly straight. She was caught by surprise however, as the bomb glowed purple and propagated.

Yamiko swiftly whipped out her piccolo and played a few sharp notes. Gokudera didn't understand what was going on until his attack was dispelled and reflected by her numerous blades.

"So you used your cloud flames to multiply your bullet." Yamiko nodded.

Yamiko repeated the notes that she played earlier and aimed a large blade directly at him.

"What the hell?!" Gokudera exclaimed as he quickly opened another Sistema CAI box. The large shields appeared and gathered in front of him, blocking Yamiko's attacks. _She's a far ranged attacker too? Damn, this might harder than I thought it would be._

"That was good! But what if there are multiple blades? What will you do then?" Yamiko smiled at him as she played a longer series of notes. Soon, more blades formed and headed towards the silver-headed boy.

"I can handle them easily." Gokudera scoffed as his shields protected him.

The girl continued to play faster ignoring his snarky remarks. A storm of her blades whipped around him as his shields couldn't do anything to help him as the smaller but weaker blades found openings through them. Gokudera winced as the blades cut his skin.

"This is the kind of attack a true storm flame user uses. Endless and chaotic, like a storm." Yamiko stated softly.

"Why does Yamiko-sempai use a piccolo when she fights?" Tsuna asked Fuyuko.

"It's hard for Yamiko to control the immense amount of flames she releases so she uses her piccolo as a medium," Fuyuko explained as her eyes trained on the battle in front of her. "It's kind of like the way that you use rings. Yamiko had Talbot make a specially designed piccolo in addition to her storm ring. If she didn't have the piccolo her other—"

Basil nudged her in the ribs. "Fuyuko…"

"Nevermind…" Fuyuko focused back on the battle.

Gokudera opened yet another box with a different ring and took the dynamite out. He loaded it into his weapon and tried to shoot the blue haired musician through the storm of blades.

The bullet shot through the storm and made a beeline straight to Yamiko. She jumped in another direction to avoid the faster bullet; it was a brighter red and sparks constantly crackled around it. Yamiko was pushed back by the force of the bullet but she flipped backwards to regain her balance.

"Not bad, not bad at all!" Yamiko cheered her opponent on.

Gokudera wasted no time and opened up another box. He inserted the bullet into the Flame Arrow and shot it towards her. The storm flame bullet was covered with rain flames and as Yamiko created another large blade to block it, the rain flames tranquilized the blade. The storm flames shot through and headed straight towards her again. She rolled to the side and the bullet passed by narrowly, slightly nicking her arm.

"That was close. But you seriously aren't getting the point here. You're supposed to get the bell. How are you going to get it from so far away." Yamiko shook her head to make the bell jingle. She knew that she was really pressing Gokudera's buttons. "Okay, let's get serious then."

"Are you taking this as a game?!" Gokudera spat. "You damn woman."

Yamiko said nothing but smiled cheekily as she unsheathed her sword.

"Now he's clearly at a disadvantage," Fuyuko commented. "Well actually, she's giving him a chance to get close to her to so he can take the bell, so it's more of both."

"Then why is he at a disadvantage?" Yamamoto asked.

"Close range versus long range doesn't give the long range fighter a lot of options. His movement will be constricted."

Yamamoto nodded. "I see."

They turned back to the battle to see Yamiko twirling her sword, taunting Gokudera to no end.

"You want to protect your 'Juudaime' but can you even handle close range?" Yamiko hopped around, avoiding all of Gokudera's shots.

"Shut up you damn woman!"

Yamiko gradually made her way towards Gokudera and attacked him with her sword. He moved the shields to block her attack and loaded a chain of bullets into Flame Arrow.

Gokudera pointed it at her and shouted, "Take this!" The shields quickly moved away and he fired continuously at her like a machine gun. He was smiling triumphantly until he saw a smirk on her face.

"Not quite there, Goku-chan!" She twirled her sword around and it was soon coated with a whirl of storm flames. She slashed at the bullets and the wind of flames blasted the bullets away.

Gokudera froze in surprise and Yamiko grinned cheekily at him. "Chance!" She swung her sword and he barely reacted in time, receiving a nasty gash on his arm.

"Tch, damn woman." he muttered as he gripped his bleeding arm. He ripped off part of his shirt and wrapped it securely on the wound to prevent further blood loss.

Yamiko darted back over to him and used her momentum to attack. Gokudera could hear the 'whoosh' of the wind as his opponent's sword sliced off a bit of his hair.

"Watch where you're swinging!" Gokudera cursed while examining his hair.

"Why aren't you taking this seriously, Goku-chan?" The boy heard a low voice right next to his other ear and felt a stinging pain in the back of his neck. His legs grew weak and he fell to his knees.

"WHAT THE HELL?! Why can't my legs move?!" Gokudera's eyes darted around nervously.

"Goku-chan, you must listen to me. I'll give you one more chance. The objective is the bell. Not my life, unless you want me to go after yours." Yamiko sternly wagged her finger in front of his face.

Gokudera growled in frustration. _I know she's not kidding about this... After all, those people who were lying dead that night looks like the work of those two. Fujisaki's defense is too strong, what am I going to do?!_

"Then let me out of this trap you set on me, you damn woman!" His anger blinded his sight as he continued to try to get his legs to start moving again.

"What if I don't want to, _Goku-chan_?" Yamiko sang with glee. "What if this was a real circumstance? Then what would you do?"

In the midst of frustration, the teen pulled the needles in his neck out. To his surprise, his legs became gradually freed of its confinement. _Was she…using pressure points and nerves to seal my movement?_

He stood up and took out three Flame Thunder bullets and stuck them into Flame Arrow. _Eat this!_ He shot the three bullets in a triangle-like position and they spun around and surrounded Yamiko. _Ha! Nowhere to go now, that bell is mine. I'll just go up and snatch it when she can't move!_

To his surprise, Yamiko pulled out her piccolo and played a simple tune. A small tornado like wind storm formed underneath her and it blasted her up in the air by the wind force. Gokudera noticed the mischievous smile on his opponent's face. He cursed. _That didn't go as planned. Wait, but with that wind force the loosely tied bell should..._

"Score!" Gokudera grinned to himself as the bell slipped out of her hair. He ran to catch the falling bell up it crashed to the ground before he got there. The bell shattered before his eyes.

Yamiko's small windstorm slowly started to dispate and she fell down slowly, landing soundly on her feet. She bent down to collect the pieces as if she already knew this was going to happen. "Goku-chan, training's over. You lose."

"What?! I got the bell out of your hair! It's obviously my win." Gokudera said defiantly.

"Yes, but imagine that this circumstance was one where this bell was something important you had retrieve. You would have failed your mission." Yamiko tsk-ed.

The other five people walked over. Fuyuko gave Yamiko a high-five. "If you don't think about what you're doing before you act, someone's life could be at stake."

"Still, good thinking Gokudera. That was some good fighting, although you still have a very long way to catch up to your sempai's," Reborn advised.

"I liked your planning," Yamiko complimented. "You didn't try to take the bell by force but waited for the target to fall into your hands."

"Now onto Fuyuko and Yama-kun~!" Yamiko cheered while Gokudera fumed in the midst of his defeat.

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><p><strong>Yay for battle scenes, training, and reviews!<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys, we're back! Gah, we have to start getting consistent with uploading…**

**NOTE FROM THE AWESOME (NOT) CO-WRITER:**

**Hey guys! Kiyomizu Yukiko here~~ I'm on Mi-chan's account right now because she can't upload it from her computer since she has stupid parental controls.D:**

**So I'm here to address a sad fact that...I THINK YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW ABOUT MY EXISTENCE D: ****tears are streaming down my face guys, tears.**

** hahaha. so anyhoo this is basically a shoutout to you guys from me just to say how grateful i really am to know so many people are reading this story. I know since the story isn't on my own account its harder for me to actually talk to you readers but I just want to take this opportunity to really thank you guys. You guys are truly amazing. LOVE IS POURING OUT OF MY HEART TO YOU. WOO! And a shoutout to Mi-chan who's truly turtle worthy awesomeness for working on this story with me.**

**On a more serious note (not really)...please read the author notes guys. I know we usually dont really put too much but sometimes we might put up some important information regarding the story. Its bolded for a reason.. **

**SO TO ALL OF YOU THAT THINK YOU CAN SKIP MY HEARTFELT THANK YOU...I LOVE YOU TOO. :)**

**oh and please tell me, through pm or review to this story, how you guys like the battle scenes. I kind of wanted feedback to see if you guys liked the scenes since I write a lot of the battle parts with the help of inputs from Mi-chan.**

**pst, btw...go check out my account (self advertising for the win)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

Fuyuko grumbled as she walked to the middle of the clearing. _Might as well get this over with quickly _

"So, how are we training?" Yamamoto asked as he followed her. He swung his bamboo weapon in a smooth arc, turning it into a sword. "What kind of game are we playing?"

Fuyuko shot him a sharp glance. "Don't misunderstand; we aren't playing any 'games'. I'm not nice and easy going like Yamiko. Just try your best to stay alive."

"There she goes again." Yamiko sighed in exasperation. _She didn't have to reveal that I was going easy on him...now he'll just get angry again. Oh well, it's amusing at least._

As predicted, Gokudera started to fume. "Oi woman! What did she mean by going easy?!"

Yamiko turned to face him with an innocent smile on her face. "You don't seriously think I would have been careless enough to let the bell just break right?"

He started to blow up at her but she did her best to ignore him and faced back to the two.

"I hope you're as good as the files say you are." Fuyuko said, spinning a kunai around her finger.

"Well, fighting girls isn't really my hobby so I don't want to have to hurt you."

Fuyuko's face went blank for a moment before she burst into laughter. "If you have time to worry about things like that, worry about your own life."

"But fighting a girl is..." Yamamoto trailed off hesitantly.

"Well then you better stop thinking of me as a girl or you might lose a couple of limbs." She stated boldly before running up to him and making a dangerous swing with her kunai to his neck.

He swiftly blocked it by pulling out his sword moments before. A clang was heard as metal hit metal. "Woah, that was dangerous."

Fuyuko wordlessly reached back to her pouch with her free hand and pulled out another kunai. His eyes widened in surprise as she moved her arm in an upward motion to stab him. He jumped back, narrowly evading it.

"Dodging and blocking isn't going to get you anywhere."

He smiled. "I suppose so but I don't want to hurt you."

"What do you think do you can do with a weak resolve like that?!" She tossed down her kunai and pulled out the metal fans.

"Fans?" he questioned.

She gave a sly smirk and opened them, revealing the sharp bladed edge. She got into a martial arts-like stance, sliding one foot forward and raising one arm, holding the fan parallel to the ground. She held the other fan in front of her, pointing menacingly towards Yamamoto.

"Come!" she challenged.

Yamamoto hesitated before pointing his sword towards her and rushing forward. She anticipated him and slammed the raised fan down onto the approaching blade. Quickly following through, she swung the other fan towards him. He barely dodged it, getting a small cut on his neck. He then swung his foot around her leg, causing her to lose her balance. As she started to fall back she performed a one hand back spring, landing safely on her feet.

Her eyes narrowed with accusation. "There's hesitation in your sword. It's become dull. A sword like that will not be able to harm me. Do you have a wish to die?"

"Well even if you say that..." Yamamoto chuckled unsurely.

She glared at him for a while and spat on the dry ground. She closed her fans and clipped them back on her belt. "That's enough. Training's over."

He gave her a confused expression. "But—"

She looked at him distastefully. "I'm not going to fight someone who was no will to fight."

As she turned around, Reborn looked sharply at her. "I can't have you pulling out like this, Fuyuko."

"Tch. Then tell him to actually fight. He's just going to get skewered like this." She stormed away to join Yamiko.

Reborn sighed and faced the rain guardian. "Hey Yamamoto."

"What's up kid?"

"Treat her like an equal."

Yamamoto looked at Reborn in surprise. "Eh? But I'm not—"

"Right now you're shaming Fuyuko by making her fight someone who isn't even willing to fight seriously. Your mindset right now is as if you're looking down on her. She has a lot of pride you know." Yamiko called out from across the clearing.

"The pride part was unnecessary." Fuyuko grumbled.

Yamamoto scratched the back of his head. "I guess you're right. Sorry about that."

"Got rid of that half-assed will of yours?"

"Yep!" His eyes darkened as he got into a stance, gripping the sword tightly in both his hands. "I won't pull back anymore."

She internally face-palmed. _He didn't quite get it; whether or not he held back was not the problem. It was the fact that he didn't seem serious about fighting. But I guess that works too._ "Better not."

Yamamoto rushed towards her and swung his sword, hitting the fan in her left hand. The force caused Fuyuko to let go of the fan and send it flying, hitting the ground a few yards behind her. She scowled and attempted to jump back to retrieve her weapon but Yamamoto moved behind her suddenly and blocked her path.

_He's not half-bad._ She gave a small grin and set the other fan on the floor. "I can't exactly fight with just one fan, can I?"

Tsuna looked toward Yamiko for assistance. "Why can't she use one fan?"

"I don't really understand that well either, but it has to do with Korean fan dancing—" Yamiko shouted out to her sister. "Hey, Fuyuko! Explain why you can't use just one fan."

Fuyuko gave Yamiko a withering gaze as she dodged another blow from Yamamoto. "I'm kind of busy over here!"

Yamamoto also gave her a questioning glance. "Why don't you just use one fan anyways?"

She jumped up on a medium sized boulder. "In Korea we have a tradition of fan dancing. I always learned it using two fans because that gives it balance; without both pairs I would be losing the beauty in fan dancing. Of course that's just my way of thinking."

She jumped down from the boulder as it was cut in half by Yamamoto.

"So that's why when she uses her fans to fight it looks as if she's dancing." Reborn commented.

Fuyuko pulled out a kunai and ignited the ring on her finger with purple flames.

Yamamoto looked at her ring in surprise. "Cloud flame user?"

The kunai erupted in purple flames; she threw it and it instantaneously multiplied while heading towards him.

He looked taken aback for a moment before he lit his ring that was shaped like a bird. Koujiro appeared and flew over the kunai's while emitting rain flames. The copies disappeared and he deflected the orginal with his sword easily. Koujiro then flew off and landing on his shoulder.

"Oh, so this is the rumored animal rings I've heard about. Now that I think about it, you're a rain flame user, I guess I can't use that then." Fuyuko said.

"So, now what?" Yamamoto asked cheekily.

Fuyuko unhooked her kusarigami from her belt and dangerously swung it around by the chain. "I'm not out of options yet!"

She ran to him and he did the same. They passes each other and stopped. Soon a cut was visible on Yamamoto's arm and it started bleeding. Likewise Fuyuko also fared a gash on her side.

He grinned. "I finally cut you."

"Don't go celebrating yet!" She lunged towards him again and gripped the handle of the kusarigami tightly. He blocked her with the sword and they faced each other off for a while, both sweating from the intense spar.

Yamamoto started to advance closer towards her, gradually pushing her against the rock wall.

"There's nowhere to escape now!" Yamamoto grinned as he pressed his sword against her kusarigama. "I guess it's my win—"

_Psh, he's too naive again._She ducked and made a swipe at his feet, causing him to falter a bit. She used that opportunity to change their positions and wrap the chain of the kusarigama around the katana and pulled it from his grip. It fell a couple feet behind her and without hesitation she threw the kusarigama at him.

He closed his eyes in fear as the blade was tossed to him. However he opened his eyes in confusion as he felt no blade piercing him. The sharp tip of the kusarigama had hit the wall right next to his neck, the handle being right on front of his neck. He was trapped with no weapon.

"And that's what you get for being naive. Never think you've won until the opponent is weaponless and unable to fight." Fuyuko stated while pulling the kusarigama out of the rock, freeing him.

Yamamoto rubbed his neck, laughing nervously. "Well, I guess we're done?

"Yeah." Fuyuko headed back to the group and Yamiko ran up to her.

"Good job!" Yamiko cheered. She then skipped over to Yamamoto. "You did well too! But you might have been able to win if you just had pinned her to the wall with her sword at that time."

He chuckled sheepishly and they headed back to the group.

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><p><strong>Sorry for the short chapter… R&amp;R please~!<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Yay, we uploaded kinda not really on time! Enjoy!**

**Yukiko desu! Uploading again in place of Mi-chan. Thank you everyone for reading and please review~ we'd love to hear your opinions. **

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><p>Reborn smiled with satisfaction of what he saw so far. "Are you guys done for today or are you going to do more training?"<p>

"We were thinking of doing some group training," Yamiko answered. "It seems like they need to work on it a little more."

"Good idea."

"How are we going to do this, straight out battling? We'll beat you in five minutes!" Gokudera bragged.

"No. We're going to do it in more of a capture-the-flag sort of way," Fuyuko answered.

"Eh?" Tsuna looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Yamiko started to explain, "Well it's sort of like what you guys did in the Choice game, each team will get an armband and choose one person to wear it. That person will be the target. Whichever team is able to destroy or take the armband first will win, ok?"

The boys liked the idea so they agreed.

"Did you guys decide on the boundary lines yet?" Basil asked the girls.

"Don't go any further than a mile radius from here," Fuyuko decided. "Confirm your target right now, before we start."

Yamiko dragged Basil and Fuyuko into a group huddle. "So what's the plan?"

"Well I probably shouldn't be the target since I want to work on our strategies. Yamiko, you have the best defense out of the three of us so you go be the target. Is that ok?" Fuyuko asked.

The blue headed girl smiled, content with the decisions, and pulled out two armbands from her pocket. She attached one of them onto the right sleeve of her shirt using makeshift safety pin out of a couple of senbon.

"Do you have a game plan yet, Fuyuko?" she asked.

Fuyuko shook her head. "Not yet. Just stay within ten feet of each other and I think we'll be ok for now. When we start, we should run deeper into the forest. That way, we would have a bigger advantage. I miss the trees we had when we were still in the U.S."

Yamiko hummed in agreement and walked over to the other team. "Have you guys decided yet?"

"No! Go away! You can't listen to our plans," Gokudera spat.

She gave him an innocent smile and muttered something along the lines of "I would never even think about it". She handed them an arm band and skipped back to her team. "They're still deciding and I want to climb a tree!" So she did.

"I will be the target!" Gokudera declared as soon as Yamiko was out of earshot. "Juudaime, you just sit around until I beat the three of them. Yakyuu-baka can stay with you!"

"I don't think it will be that easy," Yamamoto said. "They're all really good fighters..."

Tsuna agreed with him. "After all, we all lost each of our training sessions."

"I didn't lose, the bell just broke." Gokudera said defiantly while trying to get his precious "Juudaime" to praise him.

"She would have won anyways..." Yamamoto said quietly.

"You're only saying that because you lost too!" The silver headed teen argued back.

"Hey! Are you guys done down there? We're getting bored!" Yamiko yelled from her tree.

"No, we aren't!" Yamamoto responded.

"Well we're going to get started!" Team CEDEF started off deeper into the forest. Fuyuko and Basil joined Yamiko up in the trees and started traveling from tree to tree.

"So they're good in the forest…" Gokudera noted. "Oi, where did Reborn-san go?"

The three boys looked around and soon heard a call from above. "I'm going to observe from up here. Tsuna, be a good leader and fight for your family." Reborn was paragliding into the forest with Leon in paraglide transformation.

Tsuna sweat-dropped and turned back to the original conversation. "We should try to figure out who their target is. If you think about it, the most logical target would be a far ranged attacker because it would be easier for him or her to defend them."

Yamamoto caught onto Tsuna's drift. "So basically, their target would most likely be Yamiko-sempai."

"If Yamiko is the target then I should be too because our fighting styles are pretty similar." Tsuna decided.

"Okay, that would work. It's not like we have a real plan right now," Gokudera answered. "Now let's go chase those bastards!"

"Which way do you think they went?" The brunet asked while pinning the armband onto his sleeve.

"Let's go deeper into the forest!" Yamamoto said cheerfully. And with that said, they started to head into the dense overgrowth.

As Team Vongola tried to find their opponents, the other side was already well into the forest.

"Stop here!" Fuyuko called out and her teammates stopped. "This should be good enough… Yamiko, I advise you to climb a tree and keep a lookout for yourself."

"Rojer!" She answered happily. "What about Basil?"

"Keep the other two distracted," Fuyuko ordered as Basil nodded. "I'm guessing the armband is with Tsuna; his intuition is impossibly good. I'll be in the vicinity looking for a chance to snag their band. See ya!"

Fuyuko hopped back into the shadows of the trees, disappearing into the dark colors. Yamiko scaled the nearby tree, climbing high up towards the top. Basil took his stance near the base of the tree and waited. Soon enough, Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera came tumbling in their direction.

"Found you guys!" Yamamoto exclaimed, drawing his sword out. He made a defensive position and stayed near Tsuna to guard him.

"Be careful Juudaime," Gokudera warned. "I don't see the other girls."

Tsuna, already in Hyper Dying Will form, looked around. "She's up there in that tree."

He started to fly up towards Yamiko but was stopped by Basil's attack.

"Tch." Tsuna looked back at the other two. "You guys get Yamiko-sempai down here."

"Of course Juudaime! Leave it to me! C'mon out you woman!" Gokudera exclaimed. He quickly lit his storm ring and stuck it into two of his boxes. Fire Arm materialized in its usual position. He loaded a bullet into Fire Arm and shot it towards Yamiko who was swaying with the trees and the breeze. Unfortunately for Gokudera, Yamiko had already read his attack. Just as the bullet was about to hit her arm, she shifted her weight and hooked her legs around the branch she was just standing on. Her hair swung downward as she hung there lazily and gave a taunting smile.

"Not afraid of heights, huh." Tsuna noted.

"Whee!" Yamiko swung back and forth, still upside-down. "So you guys gonna come up and get me?"

Gokudera growled in frustration. He took out another cloud flame coated bullet and aimed towards where Yamiko was hanging. Just as he shot, he realized that his target was nowhere to be seen.

He heard a giggle right above him. Yamiko was perched on a branch directly over his head. She gave him a little wave and started to do flips around the branch. Her sword rattled around in its sheath but stayed where it was against her hip.

Yamamoto threw his sword up to cut down the branch but Yamiko had already started jumping from tree to tree, still provoking the three of them. Tsuna flew up to her but was attacked by a swarm of kunai, hitting him in a perfect line across his shoulders. Although it hurt a lot, whoever the attack was didn't use enough strength to hurt him severely. Nevertheless, it caused him to fall down and Yamiko safely moved to yet another tree. Tsuna gritted his teeth at this show of taunting mercy. _How humiliating… Your enemy knows how weak you really are._ He tried to fly up again but was stopped by Basil another time.

"I'm afraid we can't have you flying up to Yamiko." Basil smiled.

Yamamoto looked around in confusion as Gokudera fumed at the bottom of the tree Yamiko was in. He picked up the kunai that Tsuna had pulled out from his back. "Hey, aren't these Fuyuko-san's? Where is she?"

Yamiko jumped down to a lower branch. "You won't be able to find her, she's like a ninja!"

He walked over to where the weapons flew out from. He pushed away the bushes and there, etched into the ground was a message: _Baka. You've left your captain open._

Yamamoto tilted his head, confused by the ambiguous message. But soon his eyes widened as he realized he had moved quite a distance away from Tsuna.

As if on cue, Fuyuko darted from the trees towards Tsuna, holding her kusarigama in attack position. His eyes widened in surprise as his armband was left wide open because Basil was distracting him.

She swung down but stopped midway and jumped back as a bullet came heading in between her and her target.

Fuyuko glanced over to Gokudera who was holding his smoking Flame Arrow towards her.

"I won't let anyone her Juudaime!" He yelled defiantly.

Fuyuko smirked before jumping off again into the dense woods, disappearing from their sights.

"Ah, wait!" Gokudera shouted. He started to chase after her but was stopped by Yamamoto. "What do you want, yakyuu-baka?"

"Yamiko-sempai is the one with the armband, right?" Yamamoto confirmed as Gokudera nodded. "Then there is no reason to go after Fuyuko."

"Tch. I guess," Gokudera spat.

Yamiko looked down at them. "Well... I'm not sticking around either so try your best to keep up!" She started to jump away from tree to tree again but stopped. "Oh yeah, don't forget what you're target is. What we're testing here is TEAMWORK! You're not going to win if you're stuck in your current mindset. Get along well, minna-san. I'm outta here~!

She darted back into the forest with Basil trailing behind her. The three boys sat down in a circle thinking of what to do next.

Tsuna, still in Hyper Dying Will form, cursed. "Damn, we're so limited. Gokudera can't use his Sistema CAI shield because Yamiko can get through that. I can only use X-Burner in the sky but they keep finding ways to stop me. It's hard for Yamamoto to swing his sword in the forest... It's clear to me that these three have trained in the forest all together with the CEDEF organization. We're at a definite disadvantage here."

"Maybe we should split up and look for Yamiko!" Yamamoto suggested.

"Good idea, we'll cover more ground," Gokudera reluctantly agreed.

The three of them split up in different directions to go search for victory. Yamamoto started off in the direction Yamiko escaped from. _Hm... Where could she be...?_ He heard a frustrated grumble to his right. Yamiko had silently materialized right beside him.

"You guys didn't think of a strategy before splitting up did you? Even though I told you guys the point was teamwork you still didn't listen to me." Yamiko's eyes were a darker than normal. "Well since you're here I might as well have some personal training time. Think fast!"

In a flash, Yamiko's blade met with his. The swung their swords time and time again. Finally Yamamoto noticed her unique sword. "Both edges are sharp, huh."

"It's best not to be softie." Yamiko muttered as she put her sword up in defense at the same time Yamamoto went for her armband. Gritting his teeth, Yamamoto knew he had to coat his sword with rain flames in order to get close enough to his opponent to destroy the armband. He lit his ring and immediately and his sword emitted a blue tint. Yamiko smiled creepily and also ignited her ring with storm flames. Her dark red flames swirled around the blade menacingly.

She slashed at him and jumped back, increasing the distance between them. "I can't have my team losing to yours."

With both of their swords lit with flames, their owners had an intense spar.

"Who is stronger?" Yamiko taunted while deflecting one of Yamamoto's attacks. "Storm against rain. Disintegration against tranquility. Lucky for me, destroying things is one of my hobbies."

Their blades met together with a loud clang. Yamiko's flames swirled violently while Yamamoto's sword was pulsing with a peaceful, blue glow. The girl smirked and flicked her wrist. The force from her buildup of strength blew her opponent backwards and he smashed into a tree behind him causing it to splinter underneath the impact.

Yamiko seemed to be in another personality. She bared her teeth in an animal like way and disappeared back into the forest looking for her other teammates. She stopped to rest against a tree and saw a flash of a familiar hair color. _Basil!_

The single male in Team CEDEF was currently fighting against Gokudera. He felt Yamiko's presence and tried to end the spar as quickly as he could. Gokudera loaded a bullet into Fire Arm and shot it at his opponent. Basil used his Metal Edge, which was coated in rain flames, to deflect the attack back at its owner. Gokudera jumped backwards with surprise but when he turned around, his opponent was gone.

"Yamiko, what are you doing over here?" Basil whispered as he ran over to the bush she was hiding in.

Yamiko put a finger up to her lips indicating to be silent. They ran to a place further away from the confused Gokudera.

"Let's go find Fuyuko first. Since they obviously aren't listening to my suggestion of teamwork, let's give them some time to figure it all out." Yamiko said hurriedly.

Basil nodded in agreement. Then the two of them scoured the forest in search of their last team member. They stopped in their tracks when they heard Fuyuko's voice.

Yamiko nudged Basil and pointed to where the sound was coming from. "I think they're over there."

He nodded and they headed over towards the noise. There they saw Fuyuko and Tsuna engaged in a violent fist fight. Yamiko pulled out her piccolo and played a low note, catching Fuyuko's attention. She scanned the area and spotted her fellow team members who were beckoning her to retreat. At that moment, Tsuna aimed a punch towards her abdomen. Reacting quickly, she grabbed his arm and used his own momentum against him by flipping his over. He landed with a loud thump and the air was knocked out of him. His flame also died out and his gloves became mittens again. Fuyuko used that time to swiftly escape towards her teammates.

Together, Team CEDEF headed away from that area and found a couple of trees to wait in.

Yamiko hooked her legs onto the branch she was sitting on and fell back, swinging upside down again. "I haven't seen you fist fight in a while."

"Well, the moment seemed appropriate for it," Fuyuko said as she sat down on a sturdy branch and leaned against the trunk.

Basil also sat down on a different branch in a nearby tree. "Well, I suppose we could wait here for now and give them some time to think."

"Yeah, I hope they realize just attacking us is going to get them nowhere." Yamiko sighed.

As the three sempai's discussed more things in their respective trees, Yamamoto stumbled into the original clearing, tired from the spar with Yamiko. He looked around, unsure of what to do now. _Should I call for the others?_ "Hey Tsuna! Gokudera! Where are you guys?!"

Soon, Tsuna and Gokudera staggered out of the woods together and into the clearing.

"Stupid yakyuu-baka! What are you thinking shouting like that? What if they hear us?" Gokudera said angrily.

"Oops, sorry about that." Yamamoto laughed apologetically. "Oh, you guys are together!"

"Yeah, we ran into each other a few moments ago...what do we do now? It seems as if they all retreated at the same time for some reason." Tsuna answered.

"I think we need to rethink our plan. Charging in head first isn't going to work in a game like this." Gokudera proposed.

Yamamoto nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, Yamiko-sempai was talking about how we needed to think about our strategy more and work together as a team."

"But what are we going to do?" Tsuna asked, frustrated. "They're obviously more experienced than us in that kind of terrain!"

"Don't worry Juudiame! I have a plan. So it basically involves—" Gokudera began as he started to explain his plan. The three of them started discussing heatedly about their strategy.

"Well then, let's head out!" Yamamoto exclaimed.

Tsuna ate another Dying Will Pill. "Be careful guys."

"We'll be fine, Juudaime!" Gokudera promised.

With that, Yamamoto and Gokudera headed back into the woods. They started to run, looking for the opposing team but it was practically impossible, considering the boundaries of the field.

"Damn it!" Gokudera shouted. "Where are they?!"

Yamamoto cocked his head to the side. "Wait...do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Gokudera said as a scowl formed on his face.

"Listen."

A faint sound was heard in the distance, sounding like something that they had heard before. Kind of like a—

"Piccolo!" The three of them shouted at the same time. After looking at each other and nodding they ran quickly to the source of the noise. They crashed through the trees until they saw the opposing team lounging in the branches of a tree. Yamiko seemed to be entertaining her teammates with a song. She noticed them and put her piccolo down.

"Well, about time," Yamiko said crossly. "We were getting bored up here."

Gokudera grit his teeth. "Damn woman."

He loaded bullet after bullet into his Flame Arrow and shot them into a line, targeting each of his opponents. Team CEDEF saw that they all had cloud flame attributes but just as they were going to deflect the bullets, Yamamoto's Kojiro flew above them, showering rain flames to tranquilize Yamiko's deflective blade made of storm flames.

Yamiko smiled at their show of teamwork as she barely dodged the attack. _Nice job! Crap, we better start running!_ The three CEDEF agents sprinted through the forest, hiding behind trees and swinging on branches. Soon, in front of them was the clearing where Team Vongola's last member was nowhere to be seen. _Hm... probably hiding huh._ The three of them dove to the ground to avoid getting hit by the bullets which were right at their tails. The impact 'whished' above them and their backs got mildly scratched. The bullets with no current target smashed into the rock wall and chunks of rock tumbled to the ground.

Without letting her have a moment of rest, Yamamoto attacked Fuyuko who quickly got to her feet and dodged his sword. _Shit. I only have one kunai with me right now...well I guess that'll work._

At that same time, another beam like bullet headed over to Yamiko and Basil, this time having the lightning attribute added to the storm. They rolled out of the way and got up to their feet ready to defend themselves.

Gokudera gave a wide smirk. "We got you guys now! Go Juudaime!"

The three older teens looked up in surprise as Tsuna prepared his Aerial X-Burner.

**A few moments ago…**

"—so the plan is to force them out into this clearing where Juudiame will be waiting with his Aerial X-Burner." Gokudera explained excitedly.

"But how are we going to force them out?" Tsuna asked worriedly. "And also, you guys will get caught in the blast, too. It's too dangerous.

Gokudera gave him an assuring smile. "No problem, Juudaime. I'll just my cloud bullets to lure them into the clearing. The only troublesome person is the younger Fujisaki. She might be able to use her sword or storm flames to counter it. So then, the yakyuu-baka can use his bird to prevent her from doing so. And anyways, we'll be fine! We trust you; your flames definitely won't harm us!"

Yamamoto nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, Tsuna. We'll be fine."

**Back to the present…**

_Hm, pretty good!_ Yamiko grinned. _But not good enough._

At the same time Fuyuko frowned when she saw Tsuna's hesitation. _Stupid Tsuna, he's still pulling back. That's no good._

Even so, the Vongola boss charged his X-Burner in hopes of destroying Yamiko's armband.

Yamiko shared a small smile, suggesting something, with Basil and he nodded back at her, but with a little hesitation. Fuyuko glanced over to Yamiko. _She's planning on using that, huh. Hm...now what should I do..._Fuyuko looked back at Yamamoto whose face was creased with concern as he looked at her and gave a smirk. _Guess I'm covered. These guys managed to think of a ok plan, but they're resolution behind it is pretty weak. _

Basil lit his ring with a bright blue flame and it expanded, creating a large shield like barrier. Yamiko brought her piccolo up to her lips and started playing; Basil's shield seem to expand the slightest bit and grow stronger.

While Basil was creating their rain attribute shield, Gokudera protected himself by layering the Sistema CAI shields. Yamamoto covered his sword with rain flames and used Kojiro to make a barrier of rain flames. He looked over to Fuyuko and was shocked to notice that the girl was just standing there, twirling her kunai, not even putting any effort to protect herself.

Just then Tsuna fired his X-Burner. A bright burst of light headed towards them at incredible speed. In a panic, Yamamoto lunged towards Fuyuko and covered for her, using his rain flames. The blast of sky flames hit them all for a few seconds before it faded away.

Gokudera, who was safe, looked around to check on the others' conditions. _All right with this, we should have won! Wait…_ He looked over to Yamiko and Basil who were perfectly fine with the exception of Basil's hand which was slightly hurt. Yamamoto and Fuyuko were also safe. _Does that mean…we didn't win yet?_

Yamamoto turned around and looked at Fuyuko in concern. "Are you okay?"

Fuyuko punched him hard in the gut. "Are you crazy? Protecting your enemies? Well, I knew you would do this though." _Which is why I didn't bother trying to shield myself. Then again, even if he hadn't I would have been able block it since Tsuna definitely pulled back on that one._

Yamamoto gripped his stomach and winced. Hearing a large thump, everyone turned around to see Yamiko's collapse onto her knees.

"Eh?!" Yamamoto said, startled. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. But I'd stop worrying about the opposite team and start worrying about your own!" Fuyuko quickly pulled out her kunai and threw it in the air towards an unguarded target, Tsuna.

His eyes widened in surprise as hi armband was cleanly cut of his arm and watched in dismay as it slowly drifted down to the ground. His flames slowly died out and he dropped to the floor.

Then from the sky, Reborn swooped down on his paraglide. "All right! Team CEDEF's win! Everyone come gather around!"

They all headed towards Reborn; and Yamiko, who seemed to look slightly sleepy, was being carried by Basil.

"You idiot!" Fuyuko yelled at Tsuna as they were sitting down in the clearing. "Are you fricken dumb? How could you lose such a good opportunity? I hope you _do_ realize the only reason we are all fine is because your flame was so wimpy."

Basil also started to reprimand Tsuna after he set Yamiko down on the ground lightly. "Sawado-dono, your X-Burner might be something to fear, but if you don't put any will into it, your flames will simply be weak; just like now. Such weak flames can simply be blocked."

Tsuna hung his head down in shame as he addressed his teammates. "Sorry, it's my fault."

"Don't worry about it Juudaime! It wasn't your fault, my strategy was just flawed." Gokudera said.

"No, it's my fault for being week." Tsuna said, depressed over their complete loss. "But is Yamiko-sempai okay? Did I cause this?"

"Psh," Fuyuko scoffed, rejecting his idea completely. "No, the only injury you caused is Basil's slightly scorched hand. Yamiko is just…" She trailed off, not knowing how to explain the situation.

"Anyways," Basil cleared his throat. "You guys did a good job. It was potentially a good strategy."

Reborn looked suspiciously at the two sisters. "There are a few things you guys on Team Vongola need to learn. One, don't have a weak resolve. Tsuna, you definitely still need to work on this." Tsuna mutely nodded and Reborn continued. "Two, don't show any weakness to your enemies. Yamamoto, what was that?! Fuyuko may be your friend outside of training but you have to be loyal to your team during it."

Yamamoto gave an ashamed smile. "Yeah, my bad...but it would be bad if she got hurt severely."

Fuyuko scoffed at the thought of that and slapped him lightly on the back of his head.

"Which leads to my third pont," Reborn continued, "Don't under estimate your enemies. That means you Gokudera."

The said boy grumbled under his breath.

"And finally, fourth. Don't lose sight of the mission. You guys might have done a good job being on the offensive but did you plan to protect your own armband? Tsuna, you just let it get cut off by Fuyuko's kunai. Basil focused on his shield to protect the armband rather than themselves, which is why Basil's hand got hurt while the armband was safe. Learn from your sempai's!"

At the sound of the raised voice, Yamiko abruptly woke up from her half slumber.

"Are you okay, Yamiko-sempai?" Tsuna and Yamamoto asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, perfectly fine!" Yamiko said with a bright smile. "Don't worry about it."

They smiled in relief but their expressions soon morphed back into shame. Seeing the boys' down faces, Fuyuko gave a long sigh. _Geez, losing confidence this easily._ She walked over and tapped Yamiko on the shoulder, pointing to the direction of the guys.

Yamiko looked over and nodded. "Hey guys!" She continued as they looked toward her. "Don't be so down, it's not like you guys are weak or anything. It's mostly because we're more used to these kinds of things because we've grown up fighting and training. So don't worry so much about it. Truthfully, the biggest problem is not your fighting skills, it's your lack of resolve, and especially you Tsu-kun!"

Reborn nodded in agreement. "I guess this means you'll have to go through more intense training with me today, Dame-Tsuna! Let's go!"

Reborn kicked Tsuna's head and dragged him off, ignoring the poor boy's protests.

"Wait, Juudaime! I'll come with you!" Gokudera called out as he chased after the two.

Yamamoto gave a hearty laugh and also ran after them. "See you guys tomorrow!"

They waved 'bye' to each other and soon the three were left.

Fuyuko yawned and stretched her arms out. "Well, I guess we better head back too."

The three of them headed back to the town as the sun slowly went down.

On their way Yamiko gave a long sigh followed by a yawn. "You know...they're strong. And they're a year younger than us, too."

"It's fine isn't it? It's not like we're weaker than them." Basil said, trying to assure her.

Fuyuko nodded. "True, skill wise we might be stronger. Plus we have more experience. A lot more experience. But potential wise, I'd have to say they have one over us. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they manage to overpower us."

Yamiko grumbled. "Augh, that's so frustrating."

"Well, there is a reason to why they were chosen as the tenth and his guardians." Basil laughed. "We can't underestimate them."

"True, true! I can't wait to see how they'll grow in the future." Yamiko agreed. "But, we can't lose then either! We have to train, train! Race you guys!"

She ran off at a quicker pace and the other two looked at each other with grins on their faces as they jogged after her until they reached the house.

At that time, Reborn who was dragging Tsuna still, thought back to the earlier events. As he recalled back to when Tsuna used his X-Burner he started to question a thought. _Did Yamiko use rain flames just now?_

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><p><strong>Dun dun dunnnnn. So, what do you think? Please review! Love you guys! :3<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

**Oh my gosh. This chapter is long overdue! Yu-pyon and I are terribly sorry. We were caught up in school work but now it's second semester and off to a new start so hopefully we'll be posting more! Please enjoy :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

"Hey guys, I'm going to go into town to buy stuff for dinner. I'll be back in an hour!" Yamiko called out as she ran out the door with her wallet.

"How is she so energetic all the time?" Fuyuko muttered as she shook her head.

Basil chuckled and the clocks chimed three times, marking the time as 3 o'clock PM. The three teens had slept until lunch time, exhausted by the previous day's training session.  
>Fuyuko got up to make some more tea and was startled by the uninvited guest in the kitchen: a second pigeon.<p>

"The heck is wrong with Iemitsu?!" Fuyuko yelled in exasperation.

"What's wrong?" Basil called out to her from the living room.

"That dumb boss sent another pigeon." She threw a kunai at it viciously and instant death was guaranteed. She groaned as she picked up the dead body and took off the metal contraption on its leg. A rolled up piece of paper slid out of the container and into Fuyuko's hand. She unfurled it and something that was rolled with it fell to the floor. She crouched down and picked up the other slip of paper. _A…plane ticket? _

Setting the ticket down on the table, she studied the paper. Soon after, it was crumpled in her tight fist and she stormed off towards Basil.

"Did you know about this?" Fuyuko asked as she roughly opened the paper in front of his face.

Basil's eyes narrowed as he read the paper. "Orders for…a transfer? Did this come from Master?"

"What other dumb idiot is there that sends birds as communication." Fuyuko said as she rolled her eyes. "Anyways, wrong question. WHY THE HECK AM I BEING TRANSFERRED TO VARIA?!"

He winced as she tore the paper in half and raged. "I mean, do I seem like a mental nutcase to you? I don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of...Why _Varia_? OF ALL PLACES, WHY THERE. To make matters worse, the ninth signed it with his blood. It's a sealed deal. I'm doomed."

She walked off to her bedroom, taking heavy steps.

"Where are you going?"

"Packing. The flight ticket is for a plane leaving in two hours. I need to leave now."

"But what about Yamiko? She's going to panic!"

Fuyuko pulled out her suitcase and started to stuff all of her clothes and possessions in.  
>Basil walked into her room and repeated his question. "What are you going to do about Yamiko? She's not going to be here for at least another thirty minutes."<p>

She ignored him and took the scroll down, opening the entrance to the secret training room. She clattered down the stairs and took the weapons she liked. She then packed the weapons in a specially made case and made her way back up to her room.

Basil looked at her case. "How are you going to get that through security?"

"Well," She paused as she tossed the case into her suitcase and closed it shut. "The 'oh so great mafia' are the ones who gave me these 'genius' orders, so I'm sure they have it all figured out." She heaved a large sigh.

"So…what about Yamiko?"

Fuyuko grumbled and pulled out her phone. She quickly dialed Yamiko's number and waited. About 8 feet away from her Yamiko's phone lit up and started to play her ringtone, "Broken Ones" by Dia Frampton.

"Typical." Fuyuko sighed as she put her phone away. She looked at her arm and found that her usual watch was missing. "Shoot, where's my watch?"

Basil's eyes widened. "The watch that has _that_ in it? Did you lose it?!"

Fuyuko scanned the room and let out a sigh of relief as she saw it on the desk. "I should really never take this off. Oh god, it's already 3:30 and my flight's at five. I need to leave soon. Which reminds me, plane ticket."

She rushed off to the kitchen and came back with the ticket. "I'll give her another fifteen minutes."

The fifteen minutes passed quickly and Yamiko still wasn't back.

"What's taking that girl so long?" Fuyuko grumbled. "I really need to leave now though. Basil, make sure that Yamiko doesn't escape. You know she'll try to. She has to stay in Japan to protect Tsuna. I know this is going to be hard for her but it was going to happen one way or another. She has to overcome her over reliance on me, otherwise if I die..."

"Don't say that Fuyuko." Basil said softly. "If you were to die, she would break."

"Death is impossible to avoid. It will happen one day, sooner or later. And being part of mafia the former is more likely. It's something we have to face Basil, and my death is something she's going to have to face to." Fuyuko's voice cracked with emotion as she held back her tears. "She has to learn to live without me and vice versa. This will be the first big step."

Fuyuko opened her suitcase and pulled out some gadget looking thing. She carefully handed it to Basil. "You know the drill, stick the sensor somewhere where you know she'll have it all the time and use the tracking device to make sure she doesn't head to the airport or anything."

Basil sighed. "All right, I'll do my best. Sorry about all this Fuyuko."

"Well, it's not your fault. Just do me a favor; the next time you see Iemitsu, bash his head in. I'm leaving now." She picked up her suitcase and carried her laptop in her other hand. Basil opened the door for her and she walked out.

She waved a taxi over and headed to the airport.

Basil sighed as he tried to think of a place to hide the tracker. _Oh I know! I'll put it in her piccolo case; she always has that with her!_ So he went over and put the sensor in it.

**Meanwhile with Yamiko…**

"Come on, don't you think that's a little too pricey for a small fish like that?" Yamiko argued with the fisherman.

"You're asking for too much, missy!" the man argued back. "If I give it to you at that price then I would have to give it to everyone else at that price. Then I'd go bankrupt!"

"Fine!" Yamiko gave up and bought the fish at the fisherman's original price. _Stingy old man._

She finally made her way home but by then, Fuyuko had already left and Basil had already set the tracker.

Yamiko opened the front door, walked to the kitchen, and started unloading all the groceries into the refrigerator. Basil came over to help her and he tried to find a way to tell Yamiko about Fuyuko's absence.

"Hey where's Fuyuko? I didn't see her shoes at the door." Yamiko asked.

He winced, foreboding the explosion to come. "Uh, how to put this lightly? The ninth and Master kind of…ordered her to go fill in the cloud position in the Varia squad."

Yamiko stopped what she was doing and looked at Basil with an unidentifiable expression. "Iemitsu…ordered Fuyuko…to go to Varia?! Without me?!"

Basil gulped nervously. "Yeah I know this is really hard for you but...it was necessary. The transfer was signed by the ninth with his blood." _Poor Yamiko, with everyone that left her as a child, she only had Fuyuko to rely on. Without that physical support...her insecurity issues...what is Master thinking?!_

Yamiko glared at nothing in particular. _In the past precious things were stolen from me, I may have not had any power to prevent that from happening before, but now I do!_ "Well they're all idiots if they think I'm just going to sit by and watch this happen."

Basil winced and said nothing.

That night, Yamiko secretly went online to go search what flights were available to go to Italy. Fortunately for her, there were flights every day that week at five. She packed a duffel bag full of clothes and a good amount of senbons in the special weapon case. She also went down to the training room to get her sword. _Gah this doesn't fit inside my bag and I can't get through airport security with this...a good bribe might do the trick. Or a threat. Though those two might as well be the same thing. _She chuckled silently. _An old mafia joke._

The next day at school, Basil kept an eye on where Yamiko's blinking light was. At around four, Basil sensed some suspicious activity as Yamiko's icon showed her leaving through the side of the house where there was no door.

Basil dashed from the school roof and onto other houses' roofs finally towards Yamiko. She was standing in the middle of the alley between their mansion of a house and their neighbor's normal sized home.

Yamiko looked around cautiously and glued herself to the wall as she edged around corners towards the general direction of a busy intersection, trying not to bring any attention to herself. She reached the last block and looked around the corner to make sure that it was safe to walk. All of a sudden, two arms caged her against the wall.

"Tell me, why are you in this weird alley?" Yamiko gulped as she recognized the voice of the stranger.

"Hi, Basil…" she squeaked nervously and dropped her bag to the floor.

He leaned in a little closer towards her, taking complete advantage of his position as the blue haired girl cowered against the wall. "Well?"

"Maybe I climbed over the wall surrounding our house to the alley ways to go to the busy road to get a taxi to the airport. I want to go get Fuyuko!" Yamiko let out in a rush.

Basil sighed and stood up straight reached down to pick up Yamiko's duffel bag and sword. "You know you're not supposed to go with her. Let's get you home now."

Yamiko pouted but followed him anyways towards the actual walking streets. "How did you know I was there anyways?"

Basil gave her a smile over his shoulder. "I've got my ways."

She crossed her arms grumpily and kept walking behind him like a scolded toddler. Basil grimaced in concern. _She's really out of it. The normal Yamiko would have found my actions extremely suspicious and figured out by now that there's a tracker. If only she wasn't so dependent on Fuyuko and need her to be physically next to her. Her past has made her too insecure._

That morning, Yamiko thought up of another plan. At two o'clock in the morning, she repacked everything into her duffle bag. She tip-toed outside and bribed a taxi driver to bring the bag as well as the sword to school for her.

_Yes, success! I'll just leave school at around lunch time and hang out in the airport._ Yamiko cautiously crept back into the house.

"Good morning."

Yamiko squeaked and whirled around in surprise. Basil was leaning against the doorframe watching her with wary eyes.

"What are you doing so early in the morning?" he interrogated.

"Uhm… I just had a morning walk." Yamiko sweat-dropped. "You know, because the air is all nice in fresh…?"

Basil ushered her back through the halls into her room. "Just go to sleep."

Making sure that Yamiko was securely in bed, Basil trudged back into his room sleepily. _I can't get any sleep these days. Why does Yamiko have to be so sneaky? Which reminds me…what the heck was she doing?_

At six o'clock Yamiko woke up to her alarm clock beeping. _Okay, so today will be the day I sneak out! Basil won't know because I'll be at school~!_

During class, Yamiko willed the time to go by faster. Unable to keep awake during Kiyomoto sensei's lecture, she laid her head onto her desk in exhaustion.

"Fujisaki-san, please answer this question on the board." Kiyomoto-sensei called her out from the rest of the class.

Yamiko groaned. "I don't wannnttt toooooooo."

Sensei sighed exasperatedly. "You don't have a say in this. Come on now."

He walked up to her desk and tapped it loudly. Yamiko groaned once more and peeled herself off of her desk.

"**Why do you have to be so god damn annoying?**" she muttered to herself crossly.

"What was that, Fujisaki-san?"

"Oh nothing." She smiled sweetly and turned to the blackboard to do the problem.

After a few more torturous hours, the bell finally rang for lunch. All of a sudden, Yamiko came to life and dashed out the door. She unlocked her locker and yanked the stuff out of it.

"Kimi-kun, tell the teacher that I'm sick!" she yelled as she sprinted past one of her classmates.

In the meantime, Basil lounged on top of the school roof once again, monitoring Yamiko's movements. He noticed suspicious activity and stood up abruptly. He saw a streak of blue rushing out of the school and groaned. _What is she up to now?_

Once outside, the girl stopped a taxi and hopped inside.

"Take me to the airport." She panted breathlessly.

Basil kept an eye on the taxi from an office building rooftop. _Yamiko, you can't go off to Italy now. Time to make a phone call and bribes._

The driver nodded to the girl's request and began drive towards the airport. Yamiko hummed to herself happily as she bounced up and down in her seat in excitement. A moment later, the driver's built in walkie talkie unexpectedly buzzed to life.

Inside the taxi, Yamiko looked at the driver curiously; she couldn't hear the message due to the static and her distance from the device.

The driver glanced at his passenger. "According to my boss, I have to pick someone up at in a few blocks. Apparently it's an emergency so I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine." Yamiko reassured him while silently groaning. _I want to hurry and get to the airport though...What kind of emergency requires _this_ specific taxi to go off route._

He pulled over and someone opened the door.

The person cleared his voice. "Yamiko."

Said girl looked at the stranger in confusion and her eyes opened wide in shock.

"Basil?! What the hell! Wha—" She flailed her arms at a loss for words. Basil grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the car. He brought her to the trunk and took out the stored luggage.

Basil muttered a quick apology to the taxi driver and threw some money into the car. He shut the door and dragged the blue-haired girl through the busy streets until they finally reached their home.

"Why in the world were you ditching school?" Basil sighed.

Yamiko looked around nervously. "No reason…"

Basil shook his head trying to clear out his thoughts. "If this is about Fuyuko—"

She laughed uneasily. "Of course not. I'm _totally_ over her leave. It's not bothering me one bit! Y-you know, I'm j-just going to go to my room a-and…_reflect_ on what I did today. Okay?"

She jerked her thumb in the direction of her room and scampered away.

The next day when Yamiko had to go to school again, she trudged wearily into the classroom.

"Fujisaki-san, do you realize that you're ten minutes late for class?" Kiyomoto-sensei chided.

With the lack of response, Kiyomoto-sensei sighed and asked Yamiko to stay during lunch to talk to his blue-haired student.

During lunch, Kiyomoto-sensei tried to figure out the problem with his once cheerful student.

"Fujisaki-san, you haven't been turning in your homework lately, you've been late to class, _and_ you've been disrespectful towards me and your classmates. You and Fuyuko-san were my top students; once she left, your grades have dropped. Would you mind telling me what's the matter?"

Yamiko rubbed her face and laid her head down on the table. "I've just been tired I guess. I'm sorry."

Kiyomoto-sensei frowned but decided to let her go. "Okay, but try to participate more in class. You can go have lunch now."

She nodded wearily and joined the rest of her classmates outside in the courtyard. She sat down under a tree and began to unpack her lunch. As she nibbled on a piece of sushi, one of her classmates came up to her.

"Eh…Fujisaki-san, I've been noticing that you're kind of down these days. Would you like to play some music with me? I know that you play piccolo and I just thought that you would cheer up if you did listened to music. It always works for me. And look, I'm rambling again." Yamiko looked up to see a blushing boy.

"Oh, hey. You're Tanaka-kun right?"

"Yup! I'm glad you remembered my name. Would you like to come to the music room and play with the band? I know you didn't join because you were too busy…but we'd like to hear you play. People said that you're really good!" Tanaka fidgeted around nervously as he waited for her reply. _Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm actually talking to her! Is my face red? She's even prettier up close!_

Yamiko, oblivious to the signs that would have otherwise screamed "I like you", smiled and took up his offer. After packing up her lunch, she followed him through the hallways to the well-furnished band room. Inside, there were a bunch of students tuning their instruments but they all turned around at the sound of the door opening. Murmurs of excitement flowed through the band.

"Look! It's Fujisaki-san."

"Doesn't she play the piccolo?"

"I've heard that she can play a lot of different kinds of instruments!"

Said girl glanced around timidly, not knowing how to accept the shower of compliments.

Tanaka motioned for silence. "Please make Fujisaki-san comfortable!"

Yamiko bowed with respect. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

The band members grinned at her warmly and continued with what they were doing before.

Yamiko let out a huge gust of air and sat down in an unoccupied chair. She gingerly took out her instrument and fiddled with the head joint, making sure it was in tune. Like the perfectionist she was, Yamiko took out the piccolo tuner to get the most accurate pitch. A twinge of sadness overcame her as she remembered Fuyuko was the one who gave her the device. She placed her instrument back in the case, not feeling up to playing anymore. She stared at her carefully polished piccolo nestled into the velvet red cushion behind it.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed something strange with her case. _What's this weird black thing stuffed into the side doing here…?_ She removed the peculiar object and examined it thoroughly. It was a gadget that closely resembled a tracking device.

She put two and two together and jumped up in surprise. "It's Fuyuko's tracking device!"

The people around her stopped playing and gave her a strange look. Yamiko laughed sheepishly and sat down again.

"She's shown this to me before…Iemitsu gave it to her for one of our missions with the CEDEF," she muttered to herself. "No wonder why Basil was able to find me so easily this past week. Now all I have to do is leave the chip here and leave! He'll never be able to find me!"

Yamiko thought long and hard of where to leave the tracking device. _I could leave this thing in my school bag and leave the bag at school…but then it won't seem realistic because the icon on Basil's tracker won't be moving._ Then, she struck gold. _Oh! I can put the chip in Tanaka-kun's bag. We have all the same classes and the icon would be moving!_

She smiled smugly at her success and went to slip the chip into the unsuspecting boy's school bag. _Suck that, Basil!_

Yamiko tapped Tanaka on the shoulder. "Tanaka-kun, I have to leave now…something unexpected turned up, sorry."

The boy smiled. "It's okay, you look happier now. Take care!"

Yamiko bid the other band members farewell and rushed to the classroom to retrieve her bag. _Knowing Basil, he's probably on the roof dozing off…I have to go home to get my bag and sword. How troublesome._ She planned a route to get her home and the airport without being spotted and off she went.

Meanwhile on the roof of the school, Basil lounged against the wall staring up at the sky and occasionally glanced down at the tracker. _Seems like she's behaving well today…that's weird._ He thought nothing of it and resumed his daydreaming.

By that time, Yamiko already got home and was out the door again in a flash. She decided to leave right away to avoid running into Basil. _Oh well, I can just camp out at the airport until my flight._

She hailed a taxi and arrived at the airport in no time. After buying her ticket and going through the whole security process, Yamiko sat down in the corner of the waiting area and passed by playing her DS.

Soon after, the airplane docked at the gate and the passengers to Italy were on board.

Yamiko smiled down at the city of Namimori. _So long suckers!_

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><p><strong>Oh no, this can't be good. Yamiko is a sneaky little girl isn't she ;) R&amp;R! We love you! We're open to any suggestions on plot, pairings, etc. so PM us or review!<strong>


	16. Chapter 16

**It's finally Spring Break. Unfortunately we didn't post much ; n; sorry y'all. This week we'll post two or three chapters so get ready :D**

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><p>The sun's glare blinded Fuyuko as she stepped out from the airport with her suitcase clattering behind her. <em>Italy, huh. <em>She grumbled a bit and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. As soon as she set them on her face, a large man came up to her and looked her up and down.

"Victoria...Park?" the man asked skeptically while raising his eyebrow.

Fuyuko narrowed her eyes, disliking the tone in his voice. She crossed her arms and glanced at the insignia on his jacket, recognizing the familiar Varia symbol. "Yes, that would be me. I'd prefer to go by the alias of Fuyuko until my current mission is completed. And you would be...?"

"A Varia soldier sent to pick you up, didn't think you would be so small though," he said with a smirk on his face as he leaned over to pick up her suitcase.

Irritation flitted across Fuyuko's face briefly before she delivered a sharp kick towards his torso. The blow hit soundly against his chest and he fell back from the impact. The man scowled and tried to get up, but she beat him to it, pulling him up by the collar of his jacket. She stared deeply into his eyes with a sign of threat.

"I'm now an official member of Varia, whether you or I like it or not, so you better treat me just like you do with the rest of the dipshits."

With that, she shoved him back down and he landed on his butt with a thump. He sat there dazed for a moment, thinking about how he was slammed to the ground by someone half his weight.

"You going to take me to the headquarters or not?" Fuyuko said irritably, tapping her foot.

He quickly got up to his feet and stood up straight, giving her a salute. "Yes ma'am!" He picked up her suitcase and took it over to a nearby sleek black car. He opened the door for her and she got in. After he put the suitcase in the trunk, he climbed into the driver's seat and drove off towards the Varia mansion.

After a long and silent drive they reached the mansion. The driver got out and opened the door for Fuyuko and got her suitcase.

"When you enter, someone should be there guide you," said the Varia soldier. _Oh god, thank goodness the car ride is over._ Throughout the whole ride the soldier had chills running down his back. Fuyuko hadn't spoken a word but that heavy, uncomfortable silence seemed to press down and suffocate him like a deadly threat.

Fuyuko gave a small grunt as a response, picked up her suitcase, and opened the large door. As she entered the building, a maid came and took her suitcase.

"The boss is down the hallway to the large doors on the left," the maid said as she bowed and carried off Fuyuko's suitcase.

Fuyuko heaved a heavy sigh and trudged slowly down the hallway. "Man I hate that guy. Even though I have to admit he's pretty strong."

Her eyes narrowed and stopped suddenly. A thin silver knife flew through the air and stuck landing into the wall next to her, barely centimeters from her face. She groaned as she heard the familiar laugh, one she never wanted to hear again. _Reason number one I didn't want to come here._

"Shishishi. As expected from Victoria, or should I say La Vipera del Cielo?" Bel laughed as he twirled a knife around his finger.

"La Vipera del Cielo." The Viper of the Sky was Fuyuko's hitman name given to her long ago by the Ninth. It was a name she had once proudly used and followed after, learning to become as fierce and dangerous as one. But after _that incident_ it had become the bane of the CEDEF; ironic how the Viper had poisoned her own family. No one in CEDEF blamed her but she still felt the accusing stares from the upper mafia members outside of CEDEF. What was supposed to be a clean mission, was stained red. It had become a name to her that she couldn't bear hearing, yet couldn't bring herself to throw it away. In a way, it was part of her pride.

Shifting uncomfortably at the mention of her hitman name, Fuyuko swiftly pulled out the knife embedded into the wall and threw it back. "Conceal your bloodthirst, idiot. It radiates throughout the whole mansion," she said while walking away.

"Shishishishi. Well you would know a lot about bloodthirst wouldn't you, Vipera, since we are, afterall, of the same kind."

Fuyuko scowled. "Don't call me that, Bel. It's not exactly a name I'm proud of." _And I'm not the same as you. I'm not and I won't be._

He walked over to her and leaned against the wall, pinning her up against it. "But I like it. The name of the girl who annihilated a whole clan in a second," he said in a sing-songy tune. "I'm rather jealous. Your name, your case, and your duo became quite famous after that assignment."

"You can have it for all I care. Now if you'd move? I have a meeting with your boss and we don't want to bail on him, do we? And call me Fuyuko until my current mission is over."

He tsked and moved away. "Hmph, we can take our time talking later. See ya, _Fuyuko. _Oh and while you're at it, send Luna my worst the next time you talk to her."

Brief surprise flitted across Fuyuko's face as she heard Bel refer to Yamiko by her hitman name. Derived from Yamiko's distinct attack style, the name was given to the girl also by the Ninth. The blue-haired girl was known as "Luna tra le Stelle", Moon Amongst Stars, but more commonly shortened to Luna. Her deadly combination attack consisting of crescent-shaped blades, hence the moon, joined by the different formations of her senbons, or stars, were the inspiration to the title.

_You'd figure he'd call her a peasant; after all, they never really got along. I think it's because of their similar personalities; they're both storm flame users. _She glanced at his leaving figure before heading into the large doors. As soon as she opened the door, a wine glass was thrown at her, contents and all, and she could hear the crash of the glass behind her. _And there's reason number two._

"You're late, trash," a gruff voice said.

Irritated by the less than friendly greeting, Fuyuko walked towards the table Xanxus sat at. "I didn't realize we decided on a time to meet."

"Keh," he scowled as he threw her a ring. "Take it and leave. You better not disappoint me, trash."

She deftly caught it and left the room. As she closed the door, she heard another wine glass crash into it. _I've joined a fricken mental hospital. Oh god, save me._

Fuyuko put on the Varia cloud ring on her right middle ring finger after briefly examining it. "Well at least that part is over. Now time to find wherever that maid took my suitcase in this blasted mansion."

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><p><strong>Haha poor Fuyuko! Review please :DDD Oh and thanks to all our new followers and to all the people who have favorited this story too. Yu-pyon and I love you all~!<strong>

**(In case you don't already know, Yu-pyon is short for Kiyomizu Yukiko, the co-author.)**

**See you soon, my lovelies!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Surprise~! Another chapter! Oh yeah, thanks Katherine Yawn ;)**

**Co-writer Yukiko speaking! Please go check out my story, Snow Princess, (khr) which is finally going to be updated (after a year) the same day as this chapter!**

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><p>After a sleepless night, Fuyuko's eyes shot open as she lay on her bed, underneath the covers. Her eyes narrowed. Someone was in the room. She reached towards the knife she had placed under her pillow and gripped it tightly, ready to strike. It never hurt to be careful when involved in the Mafia, after all. In a flash she threw the covers off and pounced on top of the intruder, pushing the knife firmly against a feathered scarf.<p>

"It's me, Victoria. Or should I call you Fuyuko? It's Luss-nee~!" Lussuria whined. "I was just trying to wake you up. Goodness, so different from your sister."

Fuyuko got off and apologized. "Sorry, I'm a little strung up because of Bel."

"Ah, yes. You guys have been squabbling the entire time since you arrived! Make up now all right? Can't have my cute children fighting can I?"

Fuyuko sighed. "Yes, yes." _Just agree with him and he'll stop bothering me. _Fuyuko didn't necessarily dislike Lussuria, but he was hard to deal with when Yamiko wasn't there.

"Good, well come on down for breakfast then! I made pancakes this morning! Oh! And I've brought your uniform for you! Now don't worry, I know you don't like skirts, so I tweaked a few things here and there. Hurry on changing and come down before the food cools!"

Fuyuko waited until the flowery man left and examined the uniform he had left behind.

It was the standard Varia uniform with black leather shorts replacing the normally long pants. _Heh, not bad. I did think their outfit was pretty cool. This is way better than what Iemitsu tried to make us wear._

She quickly changed, ditching the collared shirt for a black tank top. She pulled on her black combat boots and headed towards the kitchen, not bothering to button up the jacket. All the Varia members were seated at the long table being loud as usual. Fuyuko took her seat next to Squalo. She scarfed down her food quickly, wanting to avoid the erupting fight. _Well I've got to hand it to Lussuria, he's pretty good at cooking. Tammie would have liked it as well. This was always her favorite. _Her face fell slightly at the thought of her missing partner in crime but quickly reverted back to her normal stoic expression.

"VOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIII. WHAT ARE YOU SO QUIET FOR?!" Squalo screamed in rage as he wiped off the syrup sticky pancake thrown into his face by Levi.

Fuyuko set her fork down onto her empty plate. "Seeing that _some _peoplewere abusing the noise level, I thought it would be best for me to lower it down, not add to it. Wouldn't you agree, sharkie?"

"VVVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIII. Don't call me that, you pipsqueak!" Sharkie yelled in her face.

"I'll make the effort," Fuyuko rolled her eyes as she got up and pushed in her chair. She walked out of the kitchen and turned back, grinning. "Sharkie. Thanks for the meal, Lussuria."

"VVOOIII."

"Wait, Fu-chan~! How's Mimi doing? I sure do miss her!" Lussuria called out, using his precious pet name for the blue-haired girl back in Japan. The other Varia members all seemed to have paused with what they were doing, wanting to hear the news. Even Squalo and Bel stopped their squabbling.

"Yeah, what's up with Luna these days?" Levi asked.

Fuyuko turned around in surprise at the mention of Yamiko's hitman name. "Oh, Tammie? She's...doing fine...She goes by Yamiko right now."

"That's good to hear! I hope I can see her soon, she's just soooo adorable! Neh, don't you think so, Squa-chan?" Lussuria cheerfully looked towards him. Squalo had a slight expression of embarrassment and ignored the comment. The silver haired man was silent for a moment. _Yamiko? Child of darkness? What's that about? If anything, Luna is anything but dark...That's strange._

Then he quickly remembered the previous ridicule aimed toward him by the girl with red-brown hair. "VOOOOOOOIIII. WAIT RIGHT THERE."

Fuyuko quickly turned the corner, avoiding the plate of pancakes thrown in her direction. _What a waste of food._

She went back into her room and flopped onto the bed. After closing her eyes for a while she got up suddenly.

"Illusions," she muttered under her breath. "Where are you, Mammon. Get out already."

The room faded into mist and revealed itself to actually be the living room. A small boy with mint green hair and a ridiculously large apple hat walked into the room and looked at her with a bored expression. "You're pretty sharp, nee-san."

Fuyuko tilted her head in confusion and kneeled down to level herself with the boy. "Who are you, kid? You're not Mammon for sure, unless I'm getting tricked by another illusion."

"I'm Fran. I used to be with the Pineapple Fairy until a while ago, but I was brought to this asylum to be trained."

"Pineapple Fairy...Rokudo Mukuro?" Fuyuko grinned. "Clever name." _Heh, feel like I'll get along with this one._

"You know Shishou?"

"I met him once, but it wasn't bloodless, I'll tell you that."

"Ahh, well that's to be expected. Too bad you didn't kill him though. Then I wouldn't have been stuck with him."

"Better than with these idiots," she muttered.

"What's so wrong with 'these idiots', peasants?" Bel said from the entrance.

Fran looked up thoughtfully. "Well for one, you like randomly throwing knifes at people and insist you're some prince, sempai."

"Tch." Bel threw a knife at Fran, and it landed soundly into his large hat. "I am a prince, you peasant. And get away from my toy."

"Itaaii yo sempai," Fran complained emotionlessly as he pulled out the knife and tossed it on the ground.

Fuyuko looked at Bel with disgust. "I'm not your toy."

"Maa, calm down now children!" Lussuria said, clapping his hands together as he entered the room. "Let's all get along. I see you've met Fran, Fu-chan. Now come along, not you though Fran. We have a new mission. Isn't this going to be exciting? Our first mission with Fu-chan! Come on, Squa-chan is waiting~!"

"Exciting as shit." Fuyuko muttered and followed Lussuria, patting Fran on the head as a goodbye before leaving.

"Tch. Peasants everywhere interfering." Bel followed suit and headed out.

They headed outside where Squalo, Levi, and Mammon waited. Squalo tapped his foot impatiently.

"What took you guys so long? Let's hurry up and go."

"Wait, dear," Lussuria said stopping Squalo. "You forgot to explain the mission.

Tired of complaining to Lussuria about his pet name, he merely sighed. "We're making demands from some mafia family by using some rich guy involved with them. Now let's go."

They all nodded and headed into the car. It was a typical, simple mission. Kidnap the target and hurt him a little. After asking for demands, wait it out. If it's not followed through, target dies. Depending on reason, the target may end up dead even if demands are made. And then the rest are swept out as well.

Fuyuko grimaced. She knew the ways of Varia. Things were going to turn out much more bloody and messy than with CEDEF; it wasn't going to be a clean kidnapping. People were going to get hurt in the process and many more will get killed.

"Who's the target?" Fuyuko asked.

"You'll find out. There's no need to know; the less you know, the better," Squalo said.

Fuyuko nodded. Of course, the less you know the less guilt you had to face. There was no name to grow guilty over, no family known to feel sorry for. It was just as Squalo said, the less you know, the better. It was something she and Yamiko were taught from the beginning. Yet, she also knew it still didn't stop you from wondering. From wondering about the family that target might have, wondering about just what they had done wrong to deserve their unfortunate fates.

She bit her lip. _You c__an't get all soft now, Victoria. Getting soft in this line of work doesn't get you anywhere. Even worse, it drags you down to your grave. I can't head there, not yet. _Fuyuko closed her eyes and when they reopened, they held a quality of hardness. Those eyes were the last sight for many who fell victim to her. Stone cold and emotionless.

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><p><strong>Review please~ <strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! So I guess Yu-pyon and I haven't updated since April BUT WE'RE BACK. THAT'S WHAT WE SAID LAST TIME BUT THAT'S OKAY. **

**A big warm welcome to all of our new readers!**

**And guess what? I got a name change because I didn't like my old one ;) ****So hey guys it's Tsuki now! Please enjoy!**

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><p>Squalo shivered slightly as he looked at Fuyuko. Even he got chills, seeing her cold eyes. <em>Whenever she enters that trance...It's a born talent as the Ninth said. <em> He was snapped out of his thoughts as the car came to an abrupt stop. He glanced around and opened the door.

"VOOII, get out already. We're near the target's place, its just around a few bends. You guys all have your radio earpieces right? Levi, Lussuria, and I will raid through the front. as a distraction. Fuyuko cut around the back and secure the target. Mammon, cover Bel and Fuyuko! Alright we'll meet back here in 15 minutes! BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKK."

They all dashed off, and Fuyuko inwardly groaned. _God, I just had to be stuck with Bel Although I admit this makes a lot of sense. _They were more ideal for sneaking in after all while the others make for a good flashy distraction.

"Ushishishi. This will be interesting." Bel chuckled.

They cut around to the back and waited for the other team to start making some noise.

"VOOOOOOOIIIIIIII. WHERE'S YOUR MASTER?!"

Fuyuko rolled her eyes. _Sharkie sure knows how to make an entrance_.

They dashed in, swiftly killing the guards they ran into. Mammon stayed back, casting illusions that confused the other guards who flailed around at imaginary opponents. Bel and Fuyuko easily made their way in, navigating around the large castle-like building.

"Which room?" Fuyuko asked.

"How am I supposed to know? The peasants are supposed to take care of that," Bel said, shrugging indifferently.

Fuyuko groaned with frustration before stopping in her tracks and spoke into her mouthpiece. "Squalo, do you know which room the targets in?"

"VOOOOIIII. Figure it out yourselves!" he screamed.

Fuyuko winced and turned the volume down. "Some help Captain Sharkie is."

She closed her eyes and Bel looked at her in amusement.

"Shishishi, are you sensing for presences? It's pointless. They're scattered all over the place because of the guards. We'll just have to look for him room by room. He'll be in one of the more extravagant rooms anyway."

She ignored him and continued to scan. _Let's hope this rich old man acts like typical rich snobs and centralize the guards around his room. _She opened her eyes. "This way."

She dashed off around different hallways and stairs until she came across a wall.

"Nice, you've led us to a wall." Bel commented sarcastically.

"Actually," Fuyuko said. "I've led us to the target." She pointed at the wall. "Who's right in there...probably."

"Well then," Bel approached the wall. He pulled out multiple knives and cut a hole in the wall with his thin wires. "Open sesame?"

A slightly pudgy man sat on a chair in the room trembling with fear. A little girl about nine years old was wrapped protectively in his arms, and he screamed to the guards next to him. "Go get them!"

His daughter shrieked and the guards rushed forward towards them. Bel swiftly took care of them as Fuyuko stood there frozen.

He raised a non-visible eyebrow at her. "Fuyuko?" He glanced at her to see her eyes softened.

She shook her head trying to clear her head again. Orders were orders. Nothing else mattered. But the little girl...

No. The mission must be accomplished. Her eyes grew cold again and she walked forward as the girl shrieked at the top of her lungs.

"DAADDDYYYY!"

"D-don't cry, Lia. It'll be ok. Don't worry." He set her on the floor and got up, walking towards the pair. "You can take me or kill me, do whatever. Just don't hurt my daughter. Please."

Fuyuko walked up to the man and hit him cleanly on the back of his neck, making him fall unconscious. "Bel, take him. I'll take care of this."

"Hmph, very well. I'll listen but only because it's you, _Fuyuko_-chan~."

He picked up the man and walked out the room, heading back to the meeting place. Fuyuko talked into her reciever. "Mission accomplished, sharkie."

Then she turned it off and walked towards the little girl who sat on the floor next to the chair, bawling and shivering.

Kill all. That was standard procedure. That way there was no one to come back for revenge.

"Evil. Evil!" the girl shrieked. "Give me daddy back, you murderer!"

Kill all. That's the way it should be but...

Why was she hesitating? Bloodthirsty and cold. A natural born killer. That was the way it was supposed to be and that was the way it was. Children died every day. What was one more death?

"I'm pitiful." Fuyuko muttered. She knelt before the whimpering girl. "My hands are shaking right now from the massive amounts of unnatural bloodthirst running through my veins; there's nothing that gets my blood pumping more than why do I hesitate?" she scoffed at herself. "For that small hope that I too can have some humanity?"

She laughed and shook her head sadly. "Nope. Sadly for you, I don't. It's fading everyday and I can feel it. Everyday my bloodthirst grows." With her eyes shut tightly, she pulled out a kunai and the girl let out her last shriek.

It was a quick death, clean and done with skill.

She stood up and dusted herself off and headed out before taking one last look at the dead girl. "I can't grant you life, the best I can do is grant you a painless death." And then she walked out through the front door leaving only the dead inside.

When she reached the meeting place everyone was in the car including the target.

"Shishishi. Took you long enough. Did you take care of it?" Bel asked.

Fuyuko nodded wordlessly.

And with that, they entered the car.

**Meanwhile with Yamiko...**

Yamiko stretched her arms as she walked out of the plane. "I'm finally back in Italy!"

The blue-haired girl hummed to herself happily after going through the security process as she waited at the conveyer belt for her duffel back to come rotating around. _It's been so long since the last time Fuyuko and I came here. I'm so excited!_ Just like Fuyuko was with Japanese culture, Yamiko was a huge Italy enthusiast. Both the girls knew how to speak all four languages: English, Japanese, Italian, and their respective ethnicity languages. However, Yamiko was much more fluent in Italian than Fuyuko, although Fuyuko definitely wasn't lacking.

When her luggage finally came around, Yamiko quickly left the airport. She hailed a taxi and stuck her head in the open window.

"Excuse me, can you take me to Via Veneto?" Yamiko asked in flawless Italian.

The taxi driver looked put off for a second before recovering. "Sorry for asking, but you're not from around here are you?"

Yamiko shook her head.

The man smiled. "You're Italian is wonderful. If it wasn't for your looks, I would have never guessed you weren't from Italy. Hop in, I'll take you right there."

The ride was peaceful and soon they arrived at the destination. "Enjoy the shops of Via Veneto!"

Yamiko paid him and left with a cheerful smile. "Time to hit the shops!"

The blue-haired girl flitted from shop to shop, buying a few items here and there, stuffing them into her duffel bag. After a while, she spotted a little cake shop in the corner of a less populated street. Its name was _Cafe Lavanda_ and the store sign was decorated with cute lavender flower designs. In need of something sweet to eat, Yamiko entered the store. It was a cheerful shop but something about it seemed off. She looked around at the customers inside and saw that there were three men all dressed in black suits. It was a funny sight to see: full grown men eating pastries decorated with flowery patterns.

After picking out a slice of some type of red velvet cake, Yamiko walked over to the cashier. The man, like the rest of the shop, had some sort of off feeing.

A look of slight recognition flashed in his eyes.

"Are you...Luna tra le Stelle?" the man asked in a hushed tone.

Yamiko kept her cheerful smile in place but her was guard up immediately. She sported a look of confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The man stared at her a little longer. "There's no doubt about it. That blue hair, amethyst eyes, and that expression. The expression of a girl so incredibly gentle but behind them lies a spark of defiance. And of course, flawless Italian. You're Luna tra le Stelle! Is La Vipera de Cielo here, too?" At the sight of Yamiko's expression of suspicion the cashier operator stopped himself to explain. "There's no need to worry, Miss Luna. I'm a member of the Vongola family myself, just very distant. This is my humble cake shop but it also serves as a disguise for a weapon shop. Allow me to show you around in the back. Perhaps you'd be interested? Ah, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Gavino."

Yamiko quickly agreed after Gavino showed her the crest of the Vongola family imprinted on the barrel of his gun hidden inside his jacket. He quickly called over one of his employees to take care of the cake business portion and let Yamiko behind the counter to enter the disguised weapon shop. Gavino went over to the door in the corner and unlocked it. The door swung open to reveal many weapons of every kind, hanging on the wall. If someone unaffiliated with the mafia entered the room, he'd think it would be some kind of torture chamber.

Yamiko's eyes lit up with excitement as she took in the sheer amount of deadly swords on the wall closest to her. She set down her bag and went over to the swords.

To wrapped up in her enthusiasm, Yamiko unknowingly passed by two other conversing men who were already in the room before her. As soon as they saw her, the men were on guard. After all, members of the mafia are trained to be suspicious.

"Mr. Gavino, I'm interested in—" Yamiko abruptly felt the two men's menacing presences glowering at her. She immediately tensed up with caution and stared back. The blue-haired girl toyed around with her ring as a warning to them and the hint was taken. The suited men mentally took a step back and proceeded with caution.

Yamiko took this time to carefully take in their appearances. The two shady-looking men were dressed in stylish white coats and black slacks. One of them had a comical handlebar mustache resting on his upper lip. As one of the men turned, she noticed the Varia insignia on his coat.

As soon as she saw this, Yamiko's attention perked up and a scheme was developing in her head. Like her usual unabashed self, she ran up to the two men.

"You guys are part of the Varia? My master was—" Yamiko started to spin a lie, but before she could finish her sentence, the two men had already grabbed her from behind and locked her arms still.

"What do you know about us? Why are you here?" Manco muttered, eyes leering with suspicion. Drago said nothing while twitching his moustache.

Not waiting for an answer, the two dragged the blue-haired girl out of the back of the shop and into the bakery portion, making sure to grab her bag on the way. Yamiko rolled her eyes and scoffed. _Well at least they have some decency._ As they passed the counter, Gavino glanced at them in surprise. _Ms. Luna wouldn't be captured by these two rookies…what is she doing?_

Yamiko sensed Gavino's confusion and gave him a mischievous wink that settled his worries. _Well Ms. Luna was always known for strange plans. I better not worry._

The two of them with prisoner in tow hailed a taxi. Manco spat out an address and the three were off. After half an hour or so, they arrived at a huge mansion. Yamiko smirked as Manco paid the taxi driver while Drago roughly yanked her out of the vehicle.

As soon as the taxi was down the road, Yamiko's arm shot out and came down on the back of Manco's head. The huge man crumpled to the floor but the girl didn't give him a second glance and quickly took down the other lackey. She dusted herself and her bag off and strolled into the building, leaving the two men on the road.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading and sticking through with us!<strong>


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